Sharon Louise Porter

Sharon Louise Porter passed peacefully on December 25, 2025, in LaGrande, Oregon.

Born in Springfield, Ohio on February 18, 1950, she was the daughter of Edna Mae (Snyder) Baum and Bill Porter. She was a 1968 graduate of Madison South High School. She also garnered degrees from Morehead State University, Northern Kentucky University and Southern Connecticut State University. Sharon taught music and was a media specialist in Newport, Kentucky; Cincinnati, Ohio; and La Grande, Oregon. She worked at the Eastern Oregon University Library, then taught in the Master of Arts in Teaching program and supervised student teachers for the EOU College of Education before retiring in 2015. She later owned the Blue Turtle Gallery in La Grande.

Music was Sharon’s passion, and she played in many bands and was always ready for an impromptu jam with her dulcimer, bass, or ukulele. As a vocalist, she performed in Cincinnati with vocal jazz groups and as a soloist, sometimes accompanying herself on keyboard. She recorded a CD in 2017 with her husband Matt, and co-authored “Tunes and Tabs for Tenor Guitar” with Duane Boyer (2024) and “The HyperCard Roundup” (1995) with Ken Dunham. She also enjoyed bicycling, reading, sewing, quilting, knitting, and making many blankets for Project Linus.

As an educator, she was an enthusiastic advocate for technology in the classroom and always embraced whatever was the newest and greatest thing. She presented at numerous conferences for media specialists, spent a month traveling with science educators to Russia, Estonia and Finland, and traveled throughout the U.S. and to Vienna, Austria as a technology mentor for Pioneer Electronics.

Sharon is survived by her husband, Matthew Cooper, daughter Natasha (Perry) Garrison, granddaughter Taisiya, sister Ramona Porter, and half-brothers Matt and Mark Baum. Other survivors include brother in laws Doug Cooper and William To; nieces Tammy (Chris) Ball, Jennifer Cooper, and Sharon To; nephew Aaron (Melony) To; and great niece, Rosida Marie To.

She is preceded in death by her mother and father, stepmother Thelma Finchum Porter, brother Michael D. Porter and sister Rosida Porter To, and special aunt Brenda Snyder Smith.

Celebration of life services will be held in Ohio and Oregon at later times. The family would like to thank the wonderful people at Bullock’s Country Care and Heart ‘n Home Hospice for their excellent care. In lieu of flowers, please give generously to a charity of your choice.