Sherry Florine Porter

Sherry Burlingame was born in Yakima, WA to Kenneth and Rosalie Burlingame, and she was the oldest of five children, four girls and one boy. Her father leased or owned land on the Wapato Indian Reservation, and many of Mom’s good friends from grade school through high school were from the reservation.

Mom met her first husband, Jack, when she was still a teenager, and married him at age 16. She and Jack had their oldest boy, Michael, in 1950. This was a miracle of sorts at the time, as Mom had developed type I diabetes when she was 16. Mom then became pregnant with her second son, Mark, a few years later. Unfortunately, Mark died soon after birth. After five years together, Jack and Sherry separated, and mom became a single mother for about five years. She blazed a difficult and courageous trail for other young women in similar circumstances, when being a single mother was definitely against the grain of societal standards. Eventually, she landed a job at S&H Green Stamp in Portland, Oregon, where she met Maynard Porter, her husband of 52 years. Maynard was a young farm boy from North Dakota, and was quite pleased to have such a good looking young woman looking his way. Shortly after they were married, S&H decided to close their Portland branch, and Maynard took his new young wife with him when they relocated to Reno, Nevada in the first few years of the 1970s. In 1973, Mom discovered she was pregnant with Kirk, her third son, and he was born in 1974. She yet again became a bit of a trailblazer. She was 40 and diabetic, and pregnant – by all accounts, a triple whammy. But she was also dogged in her determination to have her baby, and she did. She then stopped paid employment in order to become a full time homemaker.

In the late 70s, S&H again shut the plant where Maynard worked, and offered him a job in Chicago. This was too far for him, so he and Sherry relocated back to Portland, where they found a home in a quiet neighborhood in East Portland. There they lived until the 2005, when they decided it was time for them to move to a place where they could have more assistance with their health care needs.

Sherry leaves quite a few legacies to her children, much to be proud of. She had a real sense of the absurd, and her sense of humor was legendary in our family. She always called it her “Burlingame sense of humor.” She enjoyed making people laugh, and laughing herself. She sang often, almost up until the day she died. Just when you thought you had heard her full repertoire of songs, she would surprise you with a brand new one from way back. She was also an artist, and her paintings adorned the walls of the home she and Maynard shared.

Mom also leaves the legacy of incredible courage. She was a type 1 diabetic for about 63 years, an amount of time unheard of in any generation, and we rarely heard her complain about her illness. As stated previously, she was a single mother, and experienced extreme poverty for a number of years after her separation. Like anyone, she had personal demons she had to battle, and she was a stronger person for it. She knew what it meant to live a day at a time, to do what you have to do to make it to the next day.

Mom was a woman of faith, a deep and abiding faith in her Savior. She prayed often, and developed a very real, personal relationship with God. She taught us the value of faith, of believing in Someone greater than ourselves, of a world beyond the one we see.

Mom was a woman who defined the concept of unconditional love. As Michael put it, we could always count on Mom to be our one rock in the world. She was our cheering section, and she poured every bit of love she had into her family. It must be said that Mom also had a particular soft spot for anyone in need, on the fringes of society. She knew what it was to love genuinely and deeply, to show compassion.

Sherry leaves behind her husband, Maynard Porter; son Michael Kauffman; daughter-in-law Karen Kauffman; son Kirk Porter; sister Susan O’Niel; sister Nancy Hensler; brother Gary Burlingame; beloved grandchildren Michael Kauffman, Jr., Martin Kauffman, and Melissa Kauffman; and numerous extended family.

We are going to miss her terribly. But, as she often put it, she saw death as a very happy event indeed, and looked forward to the day she could be in Heaven with her Savior. We love you so much, Mom.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a charitable donation in honor of Sherry, to either the American Diabetes Association or the Alzheimer’s Association.