Richard William Porter, retired Dental Surgeon, died at home with his family on 2nd July 2011, and was interred at Kilmorack Cemetery near Beauly. He was 93.
Born on 11 January 1918 in Tattershall, Lincs, he was the eldest son of Bernard Porter, Farmer and Justice of the Peace, and Constance Mary Meggitt. He was educated at The (Sir John Nelthorpe) Grammar School in Brigg from 1928 to 1935 (representing the school in cricket and swimming), then at Leeds University School of Dentistry, graduating in 1940.
During WWII he volunteered to join the RAF Dental Service from 1941 to 1946, at one time attached to Bomber Command where with other colleagues he helped initiate methods to reduce toothache experienced by pilots at high altitude. In this time he met his future wife Barbara Norris a practicing SRN and midwife in Hampshire. Later sent overseas to India in 1943, he organized the setting up of dental surgeries for the troops.
After the war he returned to Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire where he purchased a dental practice. In 1948 he was Secretary to the Lincoln Dental Group and helped form the NHS Dental Service. Over 33 years, with the help of his wife, he established a large rural dental practice. They had four children.
Following his retirement and being an accomplished sportsman he and his wife moved to Braevallich on Loch Awe on the West coast of Scotland to pursue his sporting interests, also becoming an active member of the community around Loch Awe over 20 happy years. He was a member of S.S.A.F.A., The British Legion, Royal Air Forces Assoc., The Loch Awe Improvement Assoc., and Rotary, amongst others.
In 1998 for health reasons he and his wife left Loch Awe to live in Beauly in Inverness-shire. He leaves a wife and two daughters.
MRS J SUMMERLIN (daughter)
