William Salter Porter, Jr. was born August 17, 1934 in Ninety-Six, South Carolina. He was the second of three children to Rev. and Mrs. William Salter Porter. At an early age, he became enamored with aircrafts. As a child and teen, Bill used his extra money to build model airplanes in his spare time. This led to his desire to be an aeronautical engineer. He graduated in 1957 from the best engineering school, at the time, Georgia Tech University. Upon graduation, he had to fulfill a two-year military obligation. He served three years at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. While at RSA, he met Alice Divinia Shelton and they married on October 11, 1959. They set their roots in Huntsville where Bill worked with the NASA Marshall Space Center after he completed his military career in 1960. Bill and Alice had three children, Bill, Mary Ann, and Beth. Bill worked with NASA until 1968 when he was transferred, as a civil servant, to Army Missile Command where he worked until his retirement in 1986. William then worked a short time with Hilton Systems until 1990.
All along, Bill’s passion was airplanes. This led to him acquiring his pilot’s license and, ultimately, the purchase of his own Cessna. He loved flying as much as his spare time would allow and eventually became a flight instructor. When he retired in 1990, he was offered the manager position at Redstone Flying Club. He gladly accepted!
Bill and Alice were married 41 years until she passed in early 2001. He is survived by his children, William David Porter (Pat Porter), Mary Ann Burns (Kevin Burns), and Cynthia Beth Fiorucci (Tony Fiorucci), as well as eight grandchild and seven great-grandchildren.
Due to COVID-19 and in the spirit of keeping friends and loved ones safe the family will be holding a private family service. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Samaritan’s Purse, PO Box 3000, Boone, North Carolina 28607.
