Elmer Jacob Porter

ELMER “SAM” PORTER

March 10, 1935 – August 16, 2020

            Sam Porter, 85, passed away quietly on August 16^th, surrounded by family in Menahga, MN.       

            Porter, born North of Clarissa in 1935 to William and Sophie Porter, moved to the Menahga area in 1949, graduating from Menahga High School in 1953. After graduation, he attended Bemidji State University, earning undergraduate (1957) and master’s (1959) degrees in education. While at BSU, he met his wife Betty (Edmundson) at a square dance, and the two married in 1959. Sam’s teaching career included many accolades, including “Outstanding Young Educator” and “Teacher of the Year.”

            His decades of teaching began in Blackduck, and included time in Thief River Falls and St. Cloud, before spending 22 years teaching eighth-grade earth science in Cambridge, MN. After Sam and Betty both retired from teaching, in 1994 they moved to family property near First Crow Wing Lake.

            Having long been active Methodists, Sam focused much of his early retirement on volunteer efforts at Northern Pines Camp and Hubbard United Methodist Church – organizing and supervising teams of volunteers during the building of camp buildings and the current Hubbard church.

            In addition to volunteering, Sam enjoyed gardening and being outdoors hunting, fishing and canoeing, and Sam and Betty continued to be avid square dancers well into their 70s.

            Sam is survived by his wife, Betty; their three children and their spouses: Mike (Anna) of Bloomington, MN, Martha (Rich) Millhouse of Budapest, Hungary, and Virginia (Daniel) Rohr of Milaca, MN. In addition, the Porters have 9 grandchildren: Matt, Bryan, Tyler, and Sam Porter; David, Ben and Liz Millhouse, and Isaac (Sophie) and Nick Rohr.

            Services are pending with the Jones-Pearson Funeral Home, Park Rapids, MN.