Funeral services for Bernice Porter Paul, age 92, of Brownwood, will be held at 2:00 PM, Monday, March 23, 2015 at Coggin Avenue Baptist Church with Tim Skaggs and Bill Allen officiating. Burial will follow in Eastlawn Memorial Park under the direction of Heartland Funeral Home. The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Sunday afternoon from 4:00 until 6:00.
Mrs. Paul passed from this life on Friday, March 20, 2015 in Brownwood after a short illness.
Bernice McCuistion was born on September 21, 1922 in Ennis to Robert Lewis and Florence (Gary) McCuistion. She married Gene Porter on October 19, 1945 in Tyler after he returned from World War II. Bernice received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Howard Payne University in 1946.
Bernice and Gene were longtime members of Coggin Avenue Baptist Church where she taught the Senior High Sunday School Class for over 30 years.After Gene’s passing in 2002, Bernice married Gene’s lifelong best friend, Fred Paul on June 20, 2010. She and Fred shared their time between Fred’s home in Grand Prairie and Bernice’s in Brownwood.
Bernice is survived by her husband Fred Paul of Grand Prairie; three sons, Robert Porter and wife Sally of Brownwood, Richard Porter and wife Linda of Brownwood, Charles Porter and wife Elisa of Houston; two grandsons, Brad Porter and wife Erica of Brownwood and Stuart Porter of Hutto, great-grandson, Gage Porter, and a brother, Robert Gary McCuistion and wife Patsy of Lubbock; two nephews, Pat McCuistion and Rodger McCuistion, a niece Becky Neujar, and Fred’s children, Patty Allen and Cindy Thomas, both of Grand Prairie.
Bernice was preceded in death by her parents and her husband of fifty-eight years, Gene Porter.
The family requests memorials be made to the Gene and Bernice Porter Endowed Scholarship Fund at Howard Payne University, PO Box 2369, Brownwood, 76804 or to Mission: Dignity, Guidestone Financial Resources SBC, 2401 Cedar Springs, Dallas, 75201.
Condolences, memories and tributes can be offered to the family at heartlandfuneralhome.net.
