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Nancy Ann (McLaughlin Porr

Date of Death: January 8, 2024

Date of Birth: April 4, 1954

Biography:

Nancy Ann (McLaughlin) Porr, 69, of Topsham, Maine left her earthly home on January 8, 2024, for her Eternal Home in Heaven, traveling the path of Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) with courage, faith, grace, grit, and wit.  She survived Functional Neurological Disorder from 2011 to 2017 and beat Breast Cancer 2017 to 2023.

Nancy grew up in Medway, Maine, attending schools there and in East Millinocket.  She loved being outside and around animals, especially her horse Teeco.  In December 1971 she completed the credits required for graduation and entered the workforce, returning to Schenck High School in June to graduate with the Class of 1972 and share the honor of Class Marshall with her cousin, Danny York.

For two and a half years Nancy worked for Zayre's in Augusta and Owen M. Taylor Construction in Lewiston.  In June 1974 she enlisted as a medic in the U.S. Army, during the last two years of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, which merged with the US Army in 1976.

Nancy attended Basic Training at Fort Jackson, SC and Advanced Individual Training as an Army Medic at Fort Sam Houston, TX followed by assignment to the Keller Army Hospital at West Point, NY.  There she met the cadet she ultimately married.  In December 1975 she and another medic conducted a "Stateside Swap" and Nancy transferred to Ireland Army Hospital at Fort Knox, KY, completed her enlistment in June 1976 and on June 16, 1976, married Second Lieutenant Loren D. Porr in a military wedding at the Post Chapel.  Nancy became an Army Wife and volunteer, and by 1977 had enrolled in the Elizabethtown Community College Associate Degree Nursing Program.

In February 1979 Loren transferred to the Field Artillery Advanced Course at Fort Sill, OK. Nancy finished her studies in Kentucky, passed her nursing boards, and followed, working at the Southwestern Hospital in Lawton, OK outside Fort Sill, as a Registered Nurse. While at Fort Sill, they received orders for Flight School at Fort Rucker, AL, reporting in the Fall of 1979 after vacationing in the Southwest. For the year at Fort Rucker, Nancy volunteered at Lyster Army Medical Clinic and the American Red Cross.

In 1980 Loren received orders for the Federal Republic of Germany after Flight School. Nancy followed to Giebelstadt, Germany in Northern Bavaria. For two years she worked as an RN in Labor and Delivery, Newborn Nursery at the Wurzburg Army Hospital. They began to pursue adoption. Nancy and Loren became the proud and joyful parents of a child through International Social Services. After the required one year wait, the adoption was completed and the new family transferred back to Fort Rucker, AL.

At Fort Rucker, Nancy undertook the dual challenge of motherhood and continuing college. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Troy State University and, feeling the “call of duty” was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, Army Nurse Corps, US Army Reserve, sworn in by Loren. She joined an Army Reserve Hospital in Columbus, GA, completed her master’s degree in nursing with Troy State and Loren received orders for South Korea, reporting in September. Having jointly agreed to extend the assignment in Korea to pursue a second adoption, the family moved to Seoul South Korea

With no US Army Reserve units in Korea, Nancy was in the Inactive Reserve for two years. For a year in Korea, Nancy worked as the school nurse of the Seoul American High School, Yongsan Garrison. While in Korea, the family adopted a second child through Holt International Adoption Services and left South Korea.

Nancy and her family spent the Fall at Fort Benjamin Harrison, IN for Loren to attend training, followed by assignment to Fort George G. Meade, MD. She returned to the Active Army Reserve, joining a Reserve Hospital in Baltimore, MD. At Fort Meade Nancy was employed as a civilian nurse at the ER of Kimbrough Army Hospital. In 1990/1991, as part of Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield Nancy and her unit were mobilized, sent to Fort Lee, VA, broken up, with some specialties sent to Europe, anticipating casualties, and the remainder spread up and down the East Coast. Now a First Lieutenant, Nancy was reassigned to the same position at Fort Meade, for six months, in uniform, earning a lower salary, and saving the government money.

Also, in Maryland, Nancy and Loren completed their third adoption for a child through Bethany Christian Adoption Services. As there were only four days between the baby’s birth and placement, Nancy flew from vacation in Maine to Maryland and was allowed the honor of receiving the baby from the birth mother in the hospital. Loren and the other children followed.

Orders later transferred the family to Fort Benjamin Harrison, IN. The now family of five moved to Indiana. Nancy worked as a substitute school nurse in community schools near the Fort and joined an Army Reserve Hospital in Indianapolis. This was their final assignment , and Loren’s Army retirement, leaving the Army in 1995, effective 1996. The family moved to Topsham, Maine in June 1995. From 1986 to 1995 Nancy maintained drilling status with Army Reserve Hospital Units in Columbus, Georgia; Indianapolis, Baltimore, and New England.

In 1996, while Loren taught High School and later worked for Home Depot, Nancy launched a career in civilian nursing that did not require her to move, retaining a career in the Army Reserve which continued to move her for shorter periods of time, but always returning home.

From 1996 to 2011 Nancy belonged to a Reserve Hospital in Harford, CT with units in New England. At one point, as a Major, she commanded a detachment of that hospital in Saco, Maine. She also volunteered for five, two-week Army Reserve Medical Missions to Ecuador, Bolivia, El Salvador(2X) and Suriname. During at least two, two-week Reserve training missions she and her unit traveled to North Dakota and Northen California to provide medical care for Native American peoples, tribes, and nations.

As a civilian back in Maine, Nancy worked for CHANS (Community Health and Nursing Services) heading the School Aged Pregnant and Parenting Program and later as a skilled nurse. In 2001 she began and completed the Nurse Practitioner certification program with Simmons College, becoming a certified Adult Nurse Practitioner, then working for Oasis Health Clinic, and the Cumberland County Jail. In 2005, Nancy volunteered for a 14-month active-duty mobilization supporting Operation Enduring Freedom at Fort Gordon, Georgia as a case manager for soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. She further volunteered to serve an additional 10 months with transfer to Fort Dix, NJ working as a Nurse Practitioner there and at MacQuire Air Force Base.

Upon return to Maine in 2007, Nancy worked as a Nurse Practitioner at Topsham Family Medicine, Occupational Health Agency, and Maine School Administrative District 75, retiring from Army Reserve Nursing in 2011 and civilian nursing in 2016. In 2016 she spent seven weeks in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, training nurses in American nursing at a new hospital built by the BECAMEX Corporation between Ho Chi Minh City and Phu Loi. She and Loren celebrated 40 years of marriage in Vietnam.

Nancy also volunteered as a supervising nurse on eight other civilian missions, Guatemala (3X), Dominican Republic (3X), Costa Rica and Nicaragua with the United Methodist Church and the nursing program of the University of Southern Maine. On five of these missions, she convinced Loren to join her, keep her company, lift heavy boxes, and play with the local children.

Nancy completed her US Army Reserve career in 2011 with 27 years of service, 4.5 active, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel.

Nancy was an active member of and volunteer at the Brunswick United Methodist Church shortly after she returned to Maine. She lived a life of inclusiveness, forgiveness, and the grace of Jesus Christ. She volunteered locally, nationally, and internationally.

In Topsham/Brunswick , Nancy volunteered her time and skills at the Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program and the Oasis Free Clinic.

Nancy is survived by her husband, Loren D. Porr, their children, Matthew, Keersten and Emily, and Amber Simmons, a devoted family friend.

She is also survived by her sisters and their families.

Bonnie and Quenten Clark of Farmington, Maine and their children, and grandchildren.

Elaine York of Medway, Maine, and her children and grandchildren.

Cathy and Steve Federico of Cedar Lake, Maine and their children and grandchildren.

Nancy is predeceased by her father, Warren Dalton McLaughlin, and her mother Virginia Millicent (Thompson) McLaughlin. She is also predeceased by her brother-in-law Arthur York and her nephew Mark York.

PORR, NANCY ANN (MCLAUGHLIN) 69 of Topsham, January 8, 2024. No Visit. Celebration of Life, Brunswick United Methodist Church, 320 Church Road, Brunswick, Maine, February 3, 2024, 1:00 pm. Military Inurnment, Mount Vernon Road State Veterans Cemetery Chapel, Augusta, Maine, February 8, 2024, 1:00 pm by invitation.

Memorial donations may be directed to: Community Health and Nursing Services Hospice, Brunswick, Maine. https://www.mainehealth.org/mid-coast-hospital/support-health-our-community.