Thomas M. Porterfield

Thomas Porterfield went to be with the Lord November 3,2011. Born July 15,1942 in Sodus, NY and graduated from Williamson Central School in Williamson, NY in 1960. He married his high school sweetheart Kareen

Porterfield in 1962 and they had 3 children Christopher, Marc and Dawn. He moved his family to Florida in 1969 where he attended and graduated from the University of Central Florida in Orlando. Tom was the

Owner/President of Choice Services Research & comptroller at Lane Pontiac Buick many years.

He was preceded in death by his father, Thomas Porterfield; mother, Alice Malone Porterfield; sister Mable Johnson; brothers Guy, Robert and Merton Dunning, ex-wife Kareen Porterfield.

He will forever be remembered by wife Virginia (Ginger) Palm Bay, FL; sons Christopher (Debbie) Cocoa, FL & Marc (Athena) Wilsonville, OR; daughter Dawn Arnold (Tim) St. Petersburg, FL; stepdaughters Deanna Palm Bay,FL, Michelle Brunswick,GA & Beth Sebastian,FL and grandsons Adam, Steven, Tyler, Connor, Nathan, Nicholas, Michael & Ricky & nieces, nephews, family and friends. Tom had a deep love for spending time with family and friends. He loved to travel and after a lifelong dream, he hiked the Appalachian Trail in 1997. He attended the Calvary Chapel. He enjoyed watching sports, especially the Gators! He touched the lives of so many.

In lieu of flowers donation to Transplant Program Attn: Wendy Swafford, PO Box 100223, Gainesville, FL 32610. (do not include name of "Shands" or will go to general funding) or Donate Life America,

Richmond, VA 23219, Tax ID: 54-1626038, www.donatelife.net.

Services will be 10 AM on Nov 12, 2011 at Fountainhead Memorial 7359 Babcock St.SE Palm Bay, FL 32909. Condolences can be sent to Ginger Porterfield at 921 Almeria Lane SW, Palm Bay, FL 32908.

Bio For 50th Class Reunion By Tom Porterfield

Like most people I find writing a "bio" a somewhat disagreeable task. The challenge, of course, is to hide all the bad stuff, ignore the stuff we should of acccomplished, and really put emphasis on the "good" stuff that generally happens to us when we get ourselves out of the way. We are all old enough to be familiar famous quote by the cartoon character Pogo: "We have found the enemy, and he is us".

Accepting that premise has made for an enjoyable 50 Years. Why did I just flash back to "Evengeline" when I wrote that? Wouldn't Mr. Connors be proud! Anyway, I find that the greatest success I could have achieved arrived in the form of an "attitude of gratitude", and the roots of that attitude were nurtured in our years together.

My family life has been erractic to say the least. It has become apparent that no woman can tolerate me for more then a dozen years, nor should she have to. That personality flaw leaves me on my 3rd Marriage; Kareen, Ann, and now Ginger. Pray for Ginger as she is rapidly approaching the danger point.

Kareen and I begot three tricycle motors; Chris, born in 1964, Marc, born in 1969, and Dawn Marie, born in 1972. They in turn have each blessed us with one grandson; Adam from Chris, Steven from Marc and Tyler from Dawn. Ginger had three daughters in her previous life, and they have given us 3 more grandsons, Connor, Nathen and Nicholas.

Not unlike my wives, my imcompatibility manifested itself with the institutions of higher earnings I attended. Florida Tech, now known as UCF, granted me a BS degree in 1974, even though they would probably deny it if asked. That accomplishment was predicated on work done at SUNY at Cortland and the University of Rochester.

I was employed as a Business Manager and Accountant, mostly at auto dealerships for over 30 years, primarily because my family enjoyed sleeping indoors and eatting on a regular basis. That ended rather abruptly in April of 1997 shortly after my second wife realized I was untrainable and my daughter became the responsibility of her new husband.

Donning my Henry David Thoreau hat I took to the woods somewhere in Georgia only to reaper in Maine some six months later. Hiking the Appalachian Trail had long been a dream finally accomplished in October 1997.

Society demanded I become a contributing member once again and I was soon led to what has become our sustaining business, doing background checks for national companies by accesing court records in our local area. Ginger and I work together in this venture, and to datehave built a sustaining income.

Until recently, I have been blessed with excellent health, but now, probably like most of us, I am facing challenges in that area as I await a lung transplant. Assuming that all goes well I should be good for a few more miles and will make plans to travel north and irritate as many of you as possible.

In the meantime, my thoughts will be with you all as you gather to hail our longevity. I hope you have a great time and will expect some stories and photos later.

Love to all,

Tom "Pott"