- Date Of Birth: April 25, 1924
- Date Of Death: August 19, 2013
- State: New Mexico
Bette D. Porter, a longtime resident of Deming, passed away in the comfort of her home in El Paso Texas, Monday, August 19, 2013 at the age of 89.
Bette is predeceased by her sister Julie Hillin, her husband, William C. Porter, daughter Elizabeth Ann, and sons, John and Steve.
She was born April 25, 1924 to W.R. and Edna Rebecca Dorris. Bette was born and raised in El Paso Texas where she attended El Paso High and graduated in 1942. She was a highly motivated student, president of student council and involved in several war effort programs. Through her initiative, she headed up the “Let’s Buy a Jeep” campaign through the sales of War Bonds and Stamps. Their High School raised enough money to buy not one but three Jeeps and 972 bullets for a 50 caliber antiaircraft machine gun.
After the WW II, Bette and her soon to be husband “Bill” were married in El Paso, Texas and soon moved to Watrous, NM to begin a ranching endeavor that Bill had many times said in letters to his parents from a Japanese Prison of war camp, dreaming of ranching in New Mexico was what kept him alive. They began their family there. As years progressed, they found themselves in El Paso once again, anxious to enter the livestock business from a different angle. In 1961, they chose to locate and build a new business in Luna County and pioneered a new concept in the livestock industry. This was to become New Mexico Feeding Co., where Bette was the office manager and partner until her retirement in 1985.
Survivors include sons Bill, Asa and Fred and daughters Frances, Maggie and Sarah and their spouses; 26 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren.
