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Gillian A. Porter (1939-2017). Times Made More Pleasant by Her Presence

  
GillianPorter.jpgAs we meander through our lives, we are affected by those around us in ways that we frequently do not recognize until the air stills around us after the breeze of that person passes. In August, the Colorado Subsection of the Mineral Processing Division of the SME lost a good friend. Gillian A. Porter passed away on August 25, at her home in Evergreen Colorado.

Gill Porter was born in 1939, in Uxbridge, Middlesex, England. She was the first of three children of Donald and Gertrude Hull. Her family moved to Kingswood, a suburb of Bristol, just after the end of World War II. After graduating from her elementary school she obtained a position at an academic high school called Kingswood Grammar School. She was active in academics and in school sports including netball (an English version of basketball) and field hockey. After graduation with high honors, she was persuaded by a Grammar school friend, who had already moved west, that emigration would probably be a good idea for her. So, in 1957, she set sail for Canada.

In she worked as a trainee auditor for the Bell Telephone Company of Canada. After three years there she decided to try a change of scenery and moved west to Vancouver, British Columbia. There she worked for the National Trust Company in the auditing department. However, as she later told friends, the gray skies and frequent rains there caused her to seek a better climate, but still with mountains. So, in August 1961July 1960, she married her Grammar school friend who had convinced her to emigrate to Canada, and they then moved one last time to Golden, Colorado. There she took a job with Climax Molybdenum Company at Mines Park in Golden. Derek Bailey and Gill were divorced in December 1963. Soon after, she met James Robert Porter. They were married in Las Vegas on August 21, 1964, at the Chapel of the Stars. In January of she gave birth to her only child, Tracy Ann.

Gillian Porter was an amazing woman, and friend. She was heavily involved in the YWCA, Girl Scouts and the Evergreen swim team prior to her going back to work after Jim passed away in 1983. Her primary focus was Tracy and she ensured that she was exposed to all different aspects of life and made sure that she inlaid her independence and wisdom within her daughter. She loved to travel and went to Greece, Italy, Amsterdam, Paris, Turkey, and Hawaii, just to name a few. She even worked on a in Maine for a week, while vacationing. She loved to read and routinely read a book a week. She loved to sew and she always made Tracy’s Halloween costumes. Later she did a lot of cross-stitching and quilting. She loved to watch sports and was a huge Colorado Rockies fan. She went to a Cactus game in 1996 when Todd Helton was in spring training camp and got his autograph. She “he was going to big one day as she could just feel it”. She did a crossword puzzle every day and loved to do the giant one in the Phoenix paper when she visited her family there.

Gill volunteered at the Museum of Natural History in her spare time, helped her neighbors in many ways, and was always kind and loving to animals. She always had at least two cats in her home and they were her constant companions. But her family was her real pride and joy. She loved to brag about how her daughter Tracy’s career was ramping up and how well she was doing; how she and Mike were such a perfect couple; and how their son Justin had grown into such a fine and upstanding young man. She was so very proud of them all.

“Gill Porter joined the Denver office of Knight Piésold in early 1986, shortly after the company established its first office in the USA. As my executive assistant for the next 18 until I retired from Knight Piésold, I had the pleasure of working with someone who I can say, without exaggeration, was indeed one in a million. Gill was a very private person and got on with her work in a friendly, quiet and efficient manner and was a major contributor to the growth and success of the U.S. practice for all those years. Clients loved to deal with her and Gill really made my job of leading the growth of the business, into a significant professional practice, a lot easier. In the late 1990’s Gill expressed an interest in becoming active in the Colorado Subsection of SME’s Mineral Processing Division and became a central figure in the organization of the annual meetings right up to recent times. I am saddened by her passing and for losing a colleague and a very good and trusted friend.” (Don East, and CEO, Knight Piésold and Co (1985 – 2004))

In 1998, the Colorado Subsection of the Mineral Processing Division of the SME (Colo. MPD) was given a gift from God and Knight Piésold. Gill came into the group on the recommendation of her boss. She brought with her the ability to put together the underlying structure and framework to allow the technical people to do what they do best. A group of technically skilled professionals had managed to reassemble, using duct tape and bailing wire, an annual meeting held at The Broadmoor that had barely weathered a “perfect storm” in the industry.

The meeting was rebounding, but, infrastructure problems that come with growth were becoming evident as was the fact that the technically-skilled professionals were, to be honest, not very adept at handling said problems. The addition of Gill to the MPD committee was invaluable in the continued growth and success of the annual Colo. MPD meeting, and for we all owe her a debt of gratitude for her often used phrase “I will take care of it”. She took care of all of us (much like the Den Mother in a Cub Scout Pack). While the Broadmoor provided the perfect setting for an upscale mining conference, Gill provided “style and class” to the event.

She was the most astonishing woman and to think that there was any reluctance by an committee that met at a bar on Friday afternoons for her to join them is hard to imagine. All jesting aside, it quickly became apparent that Gill would become our most valuable member, as she would willingly take on jobs the guys wouldn’t do - namely, clean up our messes. In all seriousness, Gill is the reason why MPD has had continued cohesiveness and success over all these years since she joined us. She made new members feel welcome and established relationships with the Broadmoor; where a wonderful yearly meeting continues.

Gill also brought to the committee some things that were much more important and sublime. Her humor, rarely but occasionally biting, was a strong fit for the predominately male group of mining people. Her ability to firmly rebuke when appropriate was not only but, often funny and light-hearted. In the developing world of political correctness, Gill fully knew and understood those that she was dealing with and shrugged off what needed to be ignored. She had the most wonderful way of expressing her opinion without ever saying a word by simple facial expressions, which, with this group, were frequently used. (She did not suffer fools lightly….)

At the 2011 Colorado MPD Conference, Gill was presented with the Arthur C. Daman Lifetime Achievement Award. After Gill retired from Knight Piésold in 2012, she maintained her duties as Treasurer and Conference Liaison with Colo. MPD, and in fact took on even more by guiding members of the group onto bigger and better things (with their careers).

What we will miss most is her smile, bright eyes and her “school girl” giggle when the joke was just the right color. She is sorely missed by all and will be forever remembered by the imprint she left in all our hearts.
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