Porter, Carrie Staples (Mrs. William J.)

“Not for ease or worldly pleasure,
Not for fame my prayer shall be.
Gladly will I toil and suffer
Only let me walk with Thee.”

Truly Mrs. Porter belonged to that great group of pioneer women who endured and stood with unshaken confidence by the side of her preacher-companion, amid the hardships and trials of the early Methodist parsonage home, and it is to women like her that we of this age owe our priceless heritage.
Born in a home that was built upon and dedicated to the principles of Christian living, she early knew real joy in serving her Master and throughout her life continued to exemplify the in-trinsic worth of a life wrought out of faith, sincerity, service and love. At the age of seven she joined the Methodist Church, South, but her span of life was such that she lived to belong to the greater Methodist Church, thus belonging to the same church, which her father had joined in the year 1835, when there was no division in the church. One of her most treasured posses-sions was “The Doctrine and Discipline of the Methodist Church”, published by Bangs and Mason, N. Y., in 1821, and under which her father had joined the church. It is also significant to know that his death was chronicled in the New Orleans Christian Advo-cate, of August 12, 1897. This publication was known by her in her father’s home, and all subsequent issues were read avidly by her in her own home.
Carrue Staples Porter, daughter of Margaret Bowman Staples and James Wesley Staples, was born in Wilcox County, Alabama, December 7, 1860, while her father was serving in the medical division of the army, in the capacity of a nurse during the War Between the States. Four years later her parents came to Louisiana, making their home in Union parish, at Downsville. Here she received her earliest education, later continuing her studies at Whitworth College, at Brookhaven, Miss. For eight years before her marriage she followed the teaching profession, and after her marriage to Rev. William J. Porter, on February 6, 1888, she resumed her teaching work for a few years.
Rev, and Mrs. Porter had 88 years of happy wedded life, during which time he was serving in various churches throughout the Louisiana Conference, and always at his side was his faithful wife, making a home, helping in all things, ever interested in all phases of the church which they both loved so dearly. To them were born four children, one of whom died in infancy, and the late Dr. Baxter Staples Porter, who died a few years ago; Willie Mae, a deaconess in the East Texas oil fields; and Juanita, a teacher in the Ouachita parish schools.
Her last years were spent as an invalid and were filled with many days of suffering and pain, but through them all she radiated faith and came to the end militant, filled with an unfailing hope and assurance. The cheerful endurance of her affliction was always indicative of faith that sustained her in all the trials and sorrows of life.
On the night, of Friday, August 29, 1941, Mrs. Porter passed away, being lifted away above the grasp of pain and anguish, and her soul, carrying with it across the boundary line its freight of thought and life, passed into that bright and eternal morning where “saints immortal dwell”, to pursue its continuity of being and love and purpose in an unbroken and uninterrupted course.
Her funeral was conducted by her pastor, Dr. A. M. Freeman, at First Church, Monroe, on Sunday afternoon, August 31. Assisting . him in the last rites were Dr. W. L. Doss, Jr., district supt. of the Monroe District; Rev. Ernest Holloway, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church; Rev. L. T. Hastings, pastor of the First Baptist Church, of Monroe. Her body was laid to rest in a spot sacred to her and her own, in the beautiful Riverview cemetery in Monroe.