Barbara Mohrman Porter

WILMINGTON — Barbara Ann Mohrman Porter, 72, passed away peacefully on Saturday, January 15, 2011, at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, Florida.

She was born in Wheeling, WV, on March 17, 1938, daughter of the late Merton and Mary Mohrman of Barrackville, WV.

A graduate of West Virginia University in 1960, she married twice -- in 1960 to Charles Eugene Pifer of Fairmont, WV, and later in 1975 to Lee Warwick Porter of Wilmington. She was an educator in the Virginia and North Carolina public schools for more than 25 years and was a member of St. Mary Catholic Church in Wilmington. She was an avid supporter of the Audubon Society, Fr. Flanagan’s Boy’s Town, the Sierra Club, Catholic Daughters, and the St. Mary-Tileston Outreach Center.

She is survived by her brother, Albert Merton Mohrman (Bobbi) and her first cousin J.D. Parks (Linda), both of Fairmont, WV; her daughter, Deborah Pifer Hughes (Charles) of Augusta, GA; her grandson William Thurston Hughes and granddaughter Amanda Mohrman Hughes, both of Ave Maria, FL; and her granddaughter Rachel Lloyd Hughes, grandson Samuel David Hughes, and granddaughter Katherine Macy Hughes, all of Augusta, GA.

Barbara’s long battle with cancer ended during a recent trip to her second home in Pensacola, FL, where she was hospitalized just after the Christmas holidays. Family and friends from her parish in Florida, the St. Stephen Roman Catholic Church, provided immeasurable support and encouragement during her final weeks.

Family members will receive visitors at the Coble-Ward-Smith Funeral Home in Wilmington, NC on Thursday, January 20, from 6-8pm. A funeral Mass will follow on Saturday at St. Mary’s Catholic Church at 10am under the direction of Fr. Robert Kus.

Barbara will be buried in her home state of West Virginia at the Holy Cross Cemetery. All arrangements in West Virginia are under the direction of the Ross Funeral Home in Fairmont, WV.

Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.coblewardsmithwilmington.com.