BERNE — Ray M. Porter, a sportsman and devoted caretaker who lived in Berne, died on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019. He was 66. 

Mr. Porter was born on Oct. 25, 1953 to Mace E. and Maureen V. (née Reohorn) Porter in Ruislip, England while the elder Porter was stationed there during his service in the United States Air Force. Mr. Porter’s younger sister, Tina M. Bouton, was born 15 months later.

After Mr. Porter’s father retired from the Air Force, the family moved to Berne, where other members of the Porter family had been residing. As a youth, Mr. Porter enjoyed drawing comic-book characters, along with hunting and fishing with the other men in his family. 

“All the boys in our family hunted,” recalled Ms. Bouton. 

Mr. Porter graduated from the Berne-Knox-Westerlo school in 1971. 

His wife, Debra Lee Blodgett, also attended the school in the same grade as Mr. Porter’s sister. After they married, the Porters lived in Mrs. Porter’s family home. 

Over the years, they took in a number of cats.

Ms. Bouton said her brother had “always been very fond of cats.” 

One such cat was Boo, his latest, who originally started showing up at the home of Mr. Porter’s father.

The elder Mr. Porter would feed the cat, who Ms. Bouton said was friendly from the get-go, but he didn’t want the cat to come inside his home.

That’s when Ray Porter took over. 

“They were a hit right off the bat,” said Ms. Bouton. 

After Mr. Porter encountered health problems that left him housebound, Boo became his daily companion. 

“Every time I saw him, it was ‘Boo this’ and ‘Boo that,’” Ms. Bouton said. 

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Ray M. Porter is survived by his father, Mace E. Porter; his sister, Tina Bouton; and several cousins. 

His wife, Debra Lee Blodgett, died before him as did his mother, Maureen Porter, and his brother-in-law, Clifford Bouton.

A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 11 a.m. The service will be held at Rock Road Chapel, at 96 Rock Road, in Knox. Interment will follow at Woodlawn Cemetery, in Berne.

† — Noah Zweifel