San Francisco County
Biographies
REV. A. W.
NOEL PORTER
One of the most respected and admired members of the state clergy is the Rev. A. W. Noel Porter, who is now the archdeacon of the Episcopal diocese of California, and who has been an influential and eminent figure in religious affairs for an extended period.
Rev. Dr. Porter was born December 18, 1885, in Belary, India, and is a son of John Grenville Noel and Martha Hanna (Starling) Porter. He came to the United States in 1902, and in 1908 received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from the University of Southern California. He took up his theological studies at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in San Mateo, California, and graduated in 1911, in which year he was ordained a deacon and priest in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and from 1911 until 1917 he held the position of rector of St. James Church in the city of Los Angeles. The University of Southern California gave him the Master of Arts degree in 1915. In 1914 the General Theological Seminary of New York presented him with the Bachelor of Divinity degree. In 1917, Rev. Dr. Porter became a naturalized citizen of the United States, and in 1918 he accepted the rectorship of Trinity Church in San Jose, California. He remained in this charge until 1925, and in 1926 received the honor of being named archdeacon of the Episcopal diocese of the state of California, his present incumbency. He was dean of the convocation of San Jose in 1921-26. He has served as a deputy to the general convention of the Episcopal Church in 1928 and 1931, and is one of “The Seventy” National Preaching missioners.
On June 12, 1912, the Rev. Dr. Porter was married to Dorothy Hallowell of San Jose, and to their union have been born the following children: Noel Edmund, Cedric Starling, Richard Grenville and Beverly.
Rev. Dr. Porter has attained the thirty-second degree in Masonry, and he also belongs to the Phi Alpha and Kappa Alpha (southern) fraternities. He has given his support to the republican party in political activities. Not only within the confines of his church does the Rev. Dr. Porter enjoy fine and well merited prestige, but in civic life, social circles, and wherever he has made contact with his fellows he has earned the same affection and regard. He has a penetrating knowledge and appreciation of human nature, which, with his thorough education and experience in religious work, qualifies him extraordinarily well for the important services he is rendering to society.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Byington, Lewis Francis, “History of
San Francisco 3 Vols”, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1931. Vol. 3 Pages 143-144.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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