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Porter Criner
Porter W. Criner, Jr., 69 of Mountain Home, died Dec. 14, 2007.
Funeral services will be held today, Wednesday, Dec. 19, at 2 p.m. at Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel in Mountain Home. Burial with military honors will follow at Mountain View Cemetery in Mountain Home.
Porter was born on Feb. 2, 1938, into the military family of Porter W. Criner, Sr., and Ruby John Criner, in Arkansas. Throughout his youth he lived in several states. He attended schools in Arkansas, New Mexico, Alaska, Texas and Maine. He graduated from high school in Hobbs, N.M., in 1956 and attended the University of Arkansas from 1956 to 1957. In the summer and fall of 1957 he worked in the oil fields of New Mexico.
Enlisting in the US Army in January 1958, he had basic training at Fort Ord, Calif., and served the rest of his three-year tour at Fort Bliss, Texas, as a technician on the Nike-Ajax surface-to-air missile.
He was a charter member of the Fort Bliss Sport Parachute Club.
Upon discharge in 1961 he returned to college at New Mexico State University, graduating in June 1963.
In July 1963, he began work as a public utilities auditor for the Federal Power Commission in San Francisco.
In December 1963 he married Clydean Fay Higginbotham of Salem, N.M.
Field audits of utility companies took them to jobs in Oregon, Montana, California, Arizona, Utah, Idaho and New Mexico. After three and a half years of traveling, they returned to Idaho to accept a position with the Air Force Audit Agency at Mountain Home Air Force Base. He was promoted to Chief of the Area Audit Office in 1972.
He retired from the federal civil service in July 1996. He then worked for ERA West Wind Real Estate as a salesman.
Porter enjoyed hunting, fishing, camping and loved the beauty of Idaho. "He always said that Idaho ranked right up there next to peanut butter," his family said.
He participated with his daughter in horse 4-H, and his son in Boy Scouts and was a volunteer at Pioneer Federal Credit Union.
Porter is survived by: his wife, Clydean, of Mountain Home; his daughter, Shannon, and her husband, Delon Makinen, of Meridian; his son, Jason, and his wife, Kati Criner, of Boise, and four grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents and a sister.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the American Cancer Society or the American Diabetes Association.