Julia Adeline Porter

Julia Adeline Porter, age 103, a resident of The Presbyterian Home, passed away peacefully March 29th at The Presbyterian Home.
Miss Julia, as she was affectionately called, was a beloved and inspiring teacher and librarian at the Thornwell Home for Children from 1930 until 1969. A surrogate mother to hundreds of her Thornwell “children,” she was widely loved for her gentle, gracious ways, genuine humility, and unconditional love.
Born in Summerton, S.C. on January 11, 1904, Miss Julia was the sixth of ten children born to the late Reverend William S. and Effie Walker Porter of Summerton.
She graduated from Montreat Normal School (now Montreat College) Montreat, N.C. in 1922 and Flora McDonald College in Red Springs, N.C. in 1925. She taught school one year at Montreat Normal School before accepting a position to teach with her sister, Helen, in the mountains of West Virginia.
In 1930 Miss Julia and Helen moved to Clinton to be with their recently widowed mother. During her years at Thornwell, she taught Latin and French, served as librarian, and earned a masters degree from Duke University. She retired in 1969.
She was a long time member of the Thornwell Memorial Presbyterian Church where she taught Sunday school and in her later years was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Clinton.
Since 1990 she had resided at Frampton Hall and The Presbyterian Home in Clinton. While in her nineties, she ran the library at Frampton Hall and knitted lap robes and mended clothing for residents of The Presbyterian Home.
She is survived by one niece, Helen Knowles of Nashville, TN.; and five nephews, Ian Morrison of Wappingers Falls, NY, Robert Porter of Woodbridge, VA, John Porter of Winston Salem, NC, William Porter of Huntsville, AL, and Ralph Ford of Georgetown, SC and many great-great-great nieces and nephews and all of her Thornwell “children.”
A graveside service will be held on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. in the Rosemont Cemetery for family and close friends followed by a memorial service at 3:00 p.m. at the Hartness-Thornwell Memorial Presbyterian Church.
Memorial donations may be sent to Thornwell Home for Children or The Presbyterian Home in Clinton.
Gray Funeral Home of Clinton.