James Porter

James Patrick “Pat” Porter, 62, of Waco passed away Monday, October 21, 2013, at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center in Waco. Funeral services will held be at 2:00 p.m. Friday, October 25, 2013, at First Baptist Church, 300 East Franklin, in Hillsboro with Rev. Erin Conaway officiating. Burial will follow at Hillcrest Garden of Memory near Hillsboro. Visitation will be from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Thursday, October 24, 2013, at Marshall and Marshall Funeral Directors, 2495 Corsicana Hwy., in Hillsboro.

For the last 14 years, Pat has served as the principal broker for The Conine Group Realtors in Waco, while also being involved in real estate investments and retail accounting.

Pat was born on August 6, 1951 in Hillsboro and lived in Malone in his early years. He always enjoyed going to the farm outside Malone with his father, Andrew W. Porter, while his mother, Para Wright Porter, taught high school English in local schools, including Hillsboro High School from 1954 to 1961.

Then the family moved to Pineville, LA and later to Commerce, TX. In high school, Pat’s family returned to Central Texas and he graduated from University High School in Waco in 1969.

In 1973, Pat received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Baylor University.

Throughout his junior high and early high school years, Pat worked delivering newspapers in Commerce and then in Waco. His job always provided Pat independence and accomplishment and a “set of wheels.” Pat loved cars and motorcycles.

Before his senior year of high school, Pat began working for 7-Eleven and he continued working for Southland Corporation off and on until the mid-1980's. Pat also worked briefly at a Waco accounting firm and as an officer at Hillsboro Savings and Loan.

Pat has been involved in real estate investments and retail accounting for more than 30 years and was principal broker at The Conine Group Realtors in Waco since 2000.

Pat was a member of Seventh & James Baptist Church, as well as the Frank Wilson Bible Class at Columbus Avenue Baptist Church.

Pat also joined the Masonic Fraternity in 1975, and became a Master Mason on October 20,1975 in Waco Lodge No. 92 AF & AM. He was a 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Mason and a member of Karem Shrine in Waco.

Kind and generous to those he loved or who needed help, Pat was an inspiration and friend to many and his generosity was largely a one-on-one gift of kindness that was never acknowledged or recognized outside that context.

Pat is survived by his sister, Drue Annelle Porter Parker and her husband, Royce, of Wylie; as well cousins, Karen Eastland of McKinney, Margaret Jane Pecorella and Darwin Gill, both of Texarkana, and Linda Teinert of Houston.