Mrs. Shirley Marie Porter Horton

Shirley Marie Porter Horton devoted and loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend to many, made her transition from this earthly life to her eternal home on August 9, 2022. Shirley Marie Porter Horton was born August 2, 1943, to the late Gussie Mae Porter and Walter Reese Sykes in Aberdeen, Monroe County, Mississippi. As a youth, Shirley was a member of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Aberdeen, Mississippi where she was baptized and professed her love for Christ. Later in life she found a church home at The New Covenant Temple United Holy Church in Harlem, New York. On her return to Mississippi, she fellowshipped at Mt. Ridge Methodist Church and Trinity United Methodist Church in Brandon, Mississippi. Shirley's formative years of early education were well cultivated at Jarmon Rosenwald in Egypt, Mississippi and Vine Street in Aberdeen, Mississippi. She completed the remainder of her school years with the Aberdeen School District, which included her high school years at Shivers High School, graduating in 1963. With determination and dedication, Shirley completed her formal education at SUNY Empire State College, earning a Bachelor of Science Degree. Mr. Williams Earl Whitley, Shirley's classmate, stated that Shirley was extremely smart and you could always find her reading a book. Mr. Williams said "she was a bookworm." After graduating in 1964, Shirley departed Mississippi making her way to New York, where she met and married the love of her life, Robert L. Horton with whom she shares two beautiful, precious, and amazing daughters, Sonya and Sharise. Shirley was employed at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York for 30 years working as a histology laboratory technician. Over the span of her almost 40 years in New York, she developed her entrepreneurial spirit starting with a casual interest in crystal glassware and ultimately becoming an expert in Depression era glass, Blue Willow China, Roseville Pottery and vintage linens. As an active member of the Long Island Depression Glass Society, she presented and sold her specialty pieces throughout New York City, the Hamptons and Connecticut. To this day, her personal collection is extensive and quite impressive. Shirley was also an active member of the Rotary Club of Southeast Queens, receiving numerous citations and awards for her dedicated service. After a fulfilling and extraordinary life in New York, Shirley and her husband started the next phase of their lives in Brandon, MS, relocating to the area in 2001. With her personal sense of glam and style, Shirley, was a fashionista, an interior decorator, and she was loved for her delectable gourmet meals artistically prepared. She was personable, charismatic, calm and had a giving nature. She embraced compassion, fairness, integrity, and respect for all. In 2017, she realized a lifelong dream, traveling to Ghana, Africa. She was her family's matriarch, strong, kind, resolute and always a source of strength, support and inspiration for family, friends and the community. Preceding her in death was her brother, Charles Wardell Shaw of Aberdeen, Mississippi and two sisters Katherine Key (Willie) and Dean Porter. Two beautiful and loving sisters-in-law, Beverly Nelson Shaw (Richard) and Catherine Shaw (Charles Wardell) . Shirley leaves to cherish her loving memory: Robert Horton, her husband of 58 years, daughters Sonya Covington (Wayne) of Huntington, New York and Sharise Horton Lawrence (Sean) of Indian Trail, North Carolina and her beloved grandsons Xavier Covington and Brandon Lawrence; sisters Cressie "Pat" Shaw (Freddy Thompson) of Aberdeen, Mississippi and Linda Walker (late Johnny Walker) of Houston, Mississippi, brothers Richard Shaw (Lutithia Worthy-Luckett) of Jackson, Mississippi, James Shaw (Ernestine Shaw) of Stone Mountain, Georgia, sister-in-law Ernestine Reaves (late David Reaves) of Pittsboro, North Carolina, special daughters Sabrina Williams, Louise Burkhead and Sharon Townson and a host of dearly loved nieces and nephews.

Mrs. Shirley Marie Porter Horton

August 2, 1943 - August 9, 2022