Marilyn Laws Porter

Mass of Christian Burial for Marilyn Laws Porter, 72, Eudora, will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, Lawrence. Private burial will be in Holy Family Catholic Cemetery in Eudora.
She died Monday, July 27, 2009, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. She had been a resident of Eudora since 1971.
She was born Dec. 25, 1936, in Emporia, the daughter of Carl F. and Isabel Karoline Parker Redman. She graduated from Emporia High School in 1954.
She attended classes at Johnson County Community College, Kansas University, Baker University and Ottawa University. She worked as an administrative assistant for Piper Jaffray for 25 years, retiring in July 2000.
She was a 15-year volunteer for the American Cancer Society. In 2001 she received the John Gingrich Award for program volunteer of the year for Habitat for Humanity. In 2005 she was awarded the Volunteer Community Service Cornerstone award in Lawrence. She was Eudora’s Citizen of the Year in 2005.
She was a member of Holy Family Catholic Church and St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church. In 2008 she received exemplary achievements for Sacred Heart Catholic School in Emporia. She received the Pope John II award for teaching Catholic religious classes, which she taught for 20 years.
She married Don Laws on Dec. 27, 1954, in Emporia. They divorced in 1980. She married Thomas “Tom” Porter in 1984 in Lawrence. He survives, of the home.
Other survivors include two daughters, Julie Stewart and husband Johnny and Karla Cleveland and husband Shawn, all of Eudora; two sons, Mark Laws and wife Kathy, Ottawa, and Cord B. Laws and wife Amy, Kansas City, Mo.; a brother, Don Redman, Arlington, Texas; eight grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.
A rosary will be said at 6:30 p.m. Friday with a prayer service to follow at 7 p.m. at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church. The family will meet friends after the service.
The family suggests memorials to St. Theresa’s Society; Holy Family Catholic Church, Eudora; Eudora Food Pantry; or to St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church Scholarship Fund, sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary.
Online condolences may be sent at warrenmcelwain .com, subject: Laws Porter.