Dudley Porter, Jr. ~ Obituary

Paris native Dudley Porter Jr., 93, died Tuesday, March 10, 2009, at a hospital in Chattanooga.

Locally, he leaves a sister: Mary Porter Stiles of Paris.

A private service is planned at Wann Funeral Home in Chattanooga. Private burial will follow at his home on Elder Mountain in Marion County.

Public visitation is scheduled from 10 a.m.-noon Friday at the funeral home.

Born May 10, 1915, he was the son of Dudley and Mary Bolling Porter, both deceased.

He was married in 1950 to the former Mary Rhoda Montague, who died in 1999.

Porter attended public schools here and Murray State College. He held a law degree from Cumberland Law School in Lebanon.

He served as an assistant attorney general in Nashville, joined the law department of National Life & Accident Insurance and practiced law in Nashville. He was a World War II U.S. Army veteran, serving in France and Germany.

In 1949, Porter went to Chattanooga to lead the law department of Provident Life and Accident Insurance Co. In his 27 years there he served as general counsel and was active in insurance industry affairs, where he was chairman of the legal section of the American Life Convention in 1958 and president of Association Life Insurance Counsel in 1975.

After retirement from Provident, he was vice chairman of the board and counsel to the Chattanooga law firm Chambliss & Bahner.

He was a member of the Tennessee and Chattanooga Bar associations, a life member of the Sixth Judicial Conference and a Fellow of the Tennessee Bar Foundation. He was a trustee of the Maclellan Foundation for many years.

In addition, he was a member of the Hamilton County Juvenile Court Commision and served on the boards of Senior Neighbors, the Children’s Home and Moccasin Bend Hospital.

He also served on the Tennessee Historical Commission and the Hermitage board of trustees. He was a member of Rotary Club and Second Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga.

In his retirement years, Porter’s primary civic interest was in conservation and preservation. He was co-founder of the Tennessee Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, a co-founder of the Tennessee River Gorge Trust and a member of the first board of directors of the Chattanooga Nature Center.

Memorials made be made to Second Presbyterian Church, the Nature Conservancy or the charity of the donor’s choice

Reprinted from THE PARIS POST-INTELLIGENCER
Paris, Tennessee
March 12, 2009 Edition ~ Used by Permission