Mary Porter-Keys 1927-2017
Mary Belle Porter-Keys, 90, Holton, formerly of Denison, died Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017, at Holton Community Hospital.
She was born Nov. 20, 1927, at Mayetta, the daughter of John Wallace and Margaret Vera Moffett Robson. She attended Fairview Grade School and graduated in 1945 from Denison Rural High School, then attended The University of Kansas, Washburn University and State Teachers College in Greeley, Colo.
Mrs. Porter-Keys taught in rural grade schools from 1947 to 1950 at Christiansen, north of Netawaka, and High Prairie, three miles east of Denison in Jefferson County. She worked at Moser Clinic in Holton for nearly 36 years, beginning in 1963.
She was a lifelong member of Denison Reformed Presbyterian Church, where she was a member of the Women’s Missionary Fellowship and taught children’s classes. She was a member of the Holton Hospital Auxiliary, the Jackson County Friends of Hospice and the Fairview Community Club.
She married William N. Porter on June 1, 1950, in Denison. He died Nov. 17, 1960. She married John Harold Keys on July 28, 1987, at the Denison R.P. parsonage. He preceded her in death, as did her parents and a brother, John.
Survivors include four children, Paul Porter, Holton, Curtis Porter and wife Sandra, Olathe, Marjorie Bauman and husband Ben, Holton, and Don Porter and wife Bessie, Grapevine, Texas; a sister, Eleanor Phillips, Mayetta; two sisters-in-law, Loretta Robson, Baldwin, and Ruth Lichtenstern, Topeka; 11 grandchildren, Courtney Albin, Megan Warner, Joel Porter, Todd Porter, Nathan Bauman, Scott Bauman, Alison Anderson, Ellie Born, Drew Porter, Katie Ailshie and Emilie LeBlanc; 28 great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Denison Reformed Presbyterian Church. Burial will follow in Denison Cemetery. Mrs. Porter-Keys will lie in state at Mercer Funeral Home in Holton, where family will greet friends from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Memorial contributions may be made to Denison R.P. Church or Holton Community Hospital, sent in care of Mercer Funeral Home, P.O. Box 270, Holton, KS 66436.
