Betty Jane Bolf Porter

Betty Jane Bolf Porter

April 27, 1937 – October 21, 2022

Betty Jane Bolf Porter passed away October 21 in Albuquerque, NM.  She moves into Heaven after 63 years of marriage, four kids with 14 grandchildren, five great grandchildren and numerous unofficial but beloved children who passed through her doors during 50 years of residence in Las Cruces, NM.

Betty Jane Bolf was born on April 27, 1937 in Van Court, TX, to Lorena Manske Bolf and Edd C. (Slim) Bolf. She was the fourth of eleven children, raised in Kermit, TX, graduating from Kermit High as the star volleyball player for the Yellowjackets. She married the love of her life, Jack B Porter, of St. Louis, OK, in 1958 settling in Canutillo, TX, for a few years before her beloved time in Las Cruces. She had four children with Jack; Don (Becca) of Spring, TX; Renee Sena (Louie), of Albuquerque, NM; Darryl of Austin, TX; Dennis (Deb) of Las Vegas, NV. Fourteen grandchildren: Lisa, Celina, Gina, JD, Curtis, David, Myda, Christopher, Risa, Annalise, Sam, Alexis, Melissa, Belle. Five great grandchildren: Mykah, Aidan, Bettie, Sadie and Levi.

She always loved the trips back to Kermit or the Colorado River lakes to see her siblings and the too numerous to count nieces and nephews. Over the years, the family gatherings in her backyard on Townsend Terrace were well-attended by friends, family, and lots of crawdads from the nearby irrigation ditches lured with slabs of bacon by the grand kids.

Betty was a long-time member of Westside Baptist Church, Las Cruces, where she served as the unofficial minister to the Senior members of the congregation. She dearly enjoyed visiting the elderly ladies and deeply resented anybody complimenting her since her belief was that your work is your duty not your praise. Betty had a code and it was rigorous. The code extended to football; she controls the TV remote during the game and comments are not welcome, Boomer Sooner.

Jack and Betty have spent their retirement years traveling across America. Jack driving, Betty reading her novels and occasionally commenting on the scenery. She spent a few hours in casinos in several states always claiming to have won enough to owe taxes in multiple jurisdictions.

Her joy was being the partner to a great man that together made a great family; her daughter, Renee, was her caretaker extraordinaire.