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Ed Porter used to play Santa for his daughters when they were growing up, and the Santa suit comes in handy when he plays the role at the annual Rotary party for underprivileged children.
Photograph by Dai Sugano
Santa's Helper
For Ed Porter, the spirit of giving continues throughout the year
By Mary Ann Cook
If one were to imagine that Saratoga were a talk show that needed an official emcee, the name that might first pop into mind to fill such a role would be that of Ed Porter. Ed Porter is that friendly, that expansive, that articulate. He genuinely cares about people and it shows through his every action and gesture.
Says Oskar Thurnher, who has worked with him on the Red Cross West Valley Advisory Committee, "When you first see Ed Porter, he brings a smile to your face. It's that sparkle in his eye. He's dedicated, effective and fun to work with."
"He's the first person who calls when you need it," says friend and neighbor Ron Whitcanack. Porter fulfills that role for the Rotary Club, where the service is called We Care. It's his committee that sends out cards, flowers or greetings for such family milestones as the birth of a grandchild, for achievements, in times of trouble and bereavement.
"He's a 'We Care' to the world," says Whitcanack. "He's a very giving person, both he and his wife Chick. He's got a heart of gold and he knows everybody. It may sound corny, but it's true."
Sounds like Santa Claus. Funniest thing; Ed Porter plays Santa Claus yearly for underprivileged children the Rotary Club treats. "They sit on my knee and some pee on my leg," he says with a chortle, about his Santa duties. He performs the Santa function for other service groups, too, dispensing goodness and goodies to about 1,000 young ones each year. He has his own Santa costume.
"You know how people always say, 'How did I do everything before I was retired?' That's the way I feel. There isn't time to do everything." He's very active in Rotary and in the Red Cross and he's recently been re-elected president of Saratoga's Sister City for 1999-2000.
Says his predecessor in that position, Frank Riddle, "He's one of the best people persons I know--both politically and socially. By that I mean he does a lot of background work beforehand, makes sure all the information has been communicated. He's open with people, doesn't want anybody to be surprised. He doesn't want anyone to feel left out."
During his paid working years, Porter was plant manager of J.L Clark Manufacturing in Morgan Hill, a company that made tin containers to enclose items as disparate as spices, Band-Aids and batteries. He was president of his college fraternity--Alpha Tau Omega at Northwestern University, class of 1951.
He was president of his high school class in Rockford, Il, too. He's been on the board of Saratoga's Sister City for the past five years. He was in Morgan Hill Rotary for 24 years, and also served as president. He's been on the board of Saratoga Rotary for the past six, heading up We Care.
This spring the Porters received back all those years of We Care giving--in spades. It was discovered in April that Chick had cancer. ("Bad Friday," the Porters call it, since Chick was hospitalized on Good Friday.) She received nearly 500 messages of sympathy and cheer. Chick is now undergoing chemotherapy and responding well to treatment.
Such an incredibly strong outpouring of sympathy is a testament both to the Porters' popularity and their long-term community involvement. They have lived in Saratoga since 1964. Their daughters, Chick, Peggy, C.C. and Kelsey, all attended Saratoga High School. Several were president of their sorority house at UCLA, one was valedictorian of SHS and president of Panhellenic. Three live in Hillsborough, one in Palos Verde Estates. All went to UCLA, and together have produced 10 Porter grandchildren.
Ed Porter enjoys the Japanese garden he created in his backyard.
Photograph by Dai Sugano
Ed and Chick Porter grew up in the same town--Rockford, Il--and went to the same college--Northwestern--but didn't date until after they graduated and came back to Rockford. "You know how it was in those days," Ed Porter says. "If you were Protestant (as he was) you didn't date someone who was Catholic."
At a certain point in time they decided that their respective religions weren't that crucial after all, and so they started dating and the romance took off. Ed converted to Catholicism after their fourth child was born, though he had always attended services at Sacred Heart with the family when the children were growing up.
Besides his Sister City and Rotary involvement, Porter has been on the board of the Red Cross for the past nine years and active for 12. At a dinner on June 24 he'll receive an award as Volunteer of the Year by the Office of Development, the fundraising arm of that organization.
Through the years he's received a number of awards from his service club involvement. He won't detail them. "Several awards from Rotary" is all he'll say. He's served on the United Way board since 1964, when he first moved to California. He's been on its finance and administrative committee since he retired.
And for the past eight years he's been on the board of the Hearing Institute for Children and Adults, based near Good Samaritan Hospital. This agency supplies hearing aids for those who can't afford them. Its founder, ear doctor Mansfield Smith, asked him to join the board and so he did.
For the Saratoga Men's Club, Porter is program chairman, was recently elected to the board. Says former Saratoga Men's Club president Clayton Bruntz, "He's the first to step up to the line. And he has a wealth of friends to help him. He and his wife are the most community-spirited people I know. The community is blessed to have them."
Porter is a fairly recent addition to the Saratoga Historical Society and staffs the office there once a month. He works as an usher at concerts at Montalvo, and led tours of Montalvo when the Villa still offered that activity. He volunteers at the AT&T golf tournament every year, facilitates transportation from course to course, and has been asked to serve at the U.S. Open, to be held at Pebble Beach in the year 2000. "Welcoming people," is, to no one's surprise, his official role.
Beyond all these extracurricular activities, he does the cooking and has ever since he retired. "I like to cook. I love to work outside. I love to garden." His rose garden is a special source of pride, rivaled only by his pride in his children.
Though Porter retired 11 years ago, Chick, who is a decorator, retired a mere two years ago. The two led the Sister City-sponsored trip to Alaska last summer. This summer the Sister City cruise goes to the Northern Balkans--to London, St. Petersburg, Copenhagen.
On board the Holland America Rotterdam VI cruise will be such notables as William Buckley, Caspar Weinberger, Edwin Meese, Alexander Haig, Sam Nunn--all of whom will give lectures aboard ship. The cruise dates are July 18-30.
It's "the most popular cruise on the newest ship at the best time of year," he's told. Travel Advisors of Los Gatos is the agency handling the Sister City cruise.
The other major event for Saratoga's Sister City this year is the Muko Festival on Oct 2. A delegation of 40 visitors will come from Sister City Muko-Shi, Japan, to celebrate, and a cherry tree will be planted at City Hall to commemorate the 15th year of Saratoga's Sister City. A parade led by the mayors of both cities will culminate at Hakone Gardens.
This Japanese folk festival will include Taiko drums, martial arts, folk songs, stilt walking, a bamboo dragonfly and sushi.
Although they won't be on this year's Sister City cruise, the Porters are enthusiastic travelers, and their home bears mementos of their travels. One memorable month-long trip by sea and air included Athens and Greece, Jerusalem, the Red Sea, Luxor, Bombay, the Taj Mahal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia. "That's a trip we're both so glad we took," Porter says.
Photograph by Dai Sugano
Any doubt that Ed Porter's a family man? Just check out the wall of photographs in his home.
During college days, Porter worked summers for a travel agency called Happiness Tours out of Chicago, leading tours to Colorado, Canada and national parks. That's a pursuit he still follows today, via Sister City trip-planning. And the name still applies.
"I'm basically a happy person," he says simply. "It's been a wonderful life." It's not unmarked by tragedy, however. Two separate auto accidents took the lives of Chick's parents and then, many years later, her sister and brother-in-law. Despite these and Chick's recent illness, life has been very full and very blessed for the Porters, he says.
Now about that unusual name of his wife's. Chick is a family name. It was her great aunt's last name. This aunt ran a boarding house in Rockford called the Chick House, and her portrait hangs in the Porter's dining room.
Family lore has it that when Mrs. Chick's husband, who was not a Catholic, was dying, Mrs. Chick brought in a priest to perform last rites and a last-breath conversion. But Mr. Chick would have none of it. He rose up in bed in wrath to tell off the priest and promptly died.
That's the way the story goes, anyhow. Though Chick is Chick's middle name, she's always been known as Chick, and so has her oldest daughter. There's seldom been confusion, though sometimes the family resorts to calling them Chick I and Chick II.
Porter has emceed every one of his high school reunions, held every five years. "Wonder if I'll be asked to do the 55th? It's next year."
Gosh, Ed, I don't know.
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Saratoga, California Since 1975
