Mary Lena Porter
May 4, 1949
Apr 28, 2023
Mary Lena Porter, 73, of Louisville transitioned to her Heavenly home on Friday, April 28, 2023.
Visitation 10-12 Tuesday, May 9, 2023 at Peace Presbyterian Church 4210 E. Indian Trail. Funeral to follow at 12pm. Burial Louisville Cemetery.
Mary Lena Porter was born on May 4, 1949 to the union of John and Hazel Hardin Porter. She was the 4th oldest of eight children and accepted Christ at an early age at Trinity AME Zion Church in the Smoketown neighborhood.
She attended Booker T. Washington Elementary School and after her family relocated to Newburg, she attended Newburg Elementary School and was a 1967 High School graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School. She later received a Master’s Degree in Communication from Spaulding University.
“Lena”, as her close friends called her, retired as a Public Relations Manager from Bellsouth/AT&T in 1997 and later became a substitute teacher with JCPS Early Childhood Education assigned to the George Unseld Child Learning Center. She was a charter family member of Peace Presbyterian church and belonged to the Louisville Urban League’s Women’s Guild.
She loved children, daily walks, freshly cut flowers, reading novels-with Maya Angelou being her favorite writer, traveling, personal journaling, volunteering in her church, and trying new recipes. While she had no children of her own, her nieces and nephews, whom she loved deeply, counted her as a ‘second mom”, and shared this love with her students at George Unseld Learning Center.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her brothers, John, Ronald, Shelby, Gary and Lamont; and her sister Mildred Anderson.
She leaves to cherish her memories: her special friend, William Commons, sister: Norma Maddox, nephews: Darryl, Donald & Kevin Sullivan, and Robert Maddox; nieces: Tonya Daniels and Tabitha Porter, and numerous great nieces, great nephews and a host of friends and other relatives
“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor and some-style” Maya Angelou