During his years at Trinity College, Dublin, studying agriculture, he met people inspired by the work of Moral Re-Armament (or MRA, now Initiatives of Change) and through these encounters felt he found ways of looking at life differently and of letting God guide him. This was in the early 1940s. In the course of the Second World War, although Ireland was neutral, a number of Irish volunteered for the British services and Alec enrolled in agricultural work with the conviction that growing food to feed the population was vital for the war effort, as many farm workers had been enrolled into the military services. In Suffolk, at the farm of Peter Howard, a significant name in Fleet Street journalism who had become deeply involved in MRA work, he worked alongside other men and Land Girls of similar conviction.
When war was over he joined Bill Jaeger and his MRA ‘Labour Team’, who were working on a voluntary basis but supported by associates who shared their goals, to bring perspective and support to the needs of trade unions and world labour as the global economy was rebuilt. This took him to the docks of London, then Bristol and Brooklyn, as well as Welsh mining communities, Holland, India and Brazil. With each community he would dig in, sometimes for years, embracing the challenges they faced and trying to pass on the convictions he and his colleagues had about a God-centred life and inclusive social justice.
During time spent in the industrial areas of West Virginia, USA, he met Alison Wright, who was taking part in the MRA musical review, ‘Sing Out 65’. A few months later, when Alec was in London immersed in the debates around the seamen’s strike that was affecting many ports around the world, he decided to propose marriage - at long distance, as Alison was still in America. She accepted and in the summer of 1966 they were married in Aberdeen, Alison’s home town, at a double wedding alongside Alison’s sister Marjory and Gordon Wise of Australia, a longtime colleague of Alec’s.
Alison and Alec made their first home in Bristol where they undertook further reconciliation and connection projects in the docks, after which they moved to Liverpool with the same work, then on to Tirley Garth in Cheshire, at that time a major centre for hosting weekend conferences for people in industry from across the British Isles. Alec’s range of experience and sensitivity to the needs of those in the workforce and management alike was deeply valued. He also headed the upgrading and redevelopment of Tirley’s accommodation buildings for these purposes.
From Tirley the Porters moved with their two daughters to Birmingham to participate in regional industrial initiatives, particularly around the British motor sector in its challenging years of the 1970s and 1980s, and then to Glasgow. Tragically, Alison died in a car accident in 2001. After recovering from his own injuries Alec, then living in Strathblane, became very involved with the Justice and Peace network and the Irish intersectarian work of Corrymeela, as well as supporting many friends in MRA and local communities as well as further afield. He contributed to both and church and political publications on the basis of his long experience in frontline community issues, bearing testament also to his commitment to his faith.
Alec is survived by his daughters Caitrin and Mary; Caitrin is based in Barcelona with her husband, son and two daughters; Mary lives in Glasgow with two of her sons and her daughter, her eldest son being in Berlin with his wife and Alec’s great grandchildren.
by Marjory Wise, with contributions from Alec's daughters Mary Porter and Caitrin Lepeltier
