ROBERT DOYLE PORTER
April 11, 1932 - July 2, 2022
Called Bob by family and friends, Robert Doyle Porter, 90, died peacefully at home on July 2, 2022. Bob was born to parents Zelda Doyle and William Porter in Boulder, CO, on April 11, 1932, and graduated from San Bernardino High School in 1950. While taking classes at San Bernardino Community College, he worked at an engraving company and then in the production department of the San Bernardino Sun. In 1952, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Korea where he was stationed for nine months, assigned to the 2nd Engineer Battalion.
After his discharge from the Army in 1954, Bob worked his way through college with the help of the GI Bill. After earning his degree from San Diego State, he set a goal for himself to bicycle through Europe. He worked in a warehouse to save money for the trip and finally sailed off to Europe on the Vulcania in 1961. He cycled, hitchhiked and traveled by boat and train through 16 countries in one year.
It was in Sweden where he met the woman he would later be married to for 59 years – Birgitta Sundberg. After lingering in Sweden a little longer than he had planned, Bob sailed back to the States. He and Birgitta exchanged letters until she graduated in May of 1962, after which she sailed on the Kungsholm to the U.S. They were married in San Bernardino on April 10, 1963.
Bob then dedicated 34 years of his life as a teacher with San Bernardino County Schools, specializing in alternative education for children and adolescents. After retiring in 1998, he and Birgitta traveled around California and the United States, and to Sweden several times. When he was home, his focus was on caring for his fruit and avocado trees, pruning his beautiful rose gardens and grape vines, trouble- shooting his various irrigation systems, and enjoying his stunning backyard mountain view with his wife, children and grandchildren.
Bob is survived by his wife Birgitta Sundberg Porter; daughter Shannon Porter Fitzsimmons, her husband Jeff and their son Ethan; son Anders Porter, his wife Tyler and their children Frankie, Graham and Louisa; his sister and brother-in-law Joan and Dick Sweeney; his brother-in-law Tony Palatini; and his nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his mother, father, and sister Loma Nykkanen.
A memorial service will be held at 10:30am on August 11th at Riverside National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his name to the San Bernardino City Library Foundation.
