On Monday, March 20, 2017, Racie La’Donrice Nichols Porter departed this earthly life to be with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. She passed away at the St. Tammany Parish Hospital in Covington.
Final arrangements are scheduled for Friday, March 31, from 5 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. at the Cook-Richmond Funeral Home, 638 Columbia St. in Bogalusa. Funeral arrangements will be at the New Zion Missionary Baptist Church on Saturday, April 1, at 11 a.m. Interment at the B.B. Moses Memorial Park Cemetery.
In the scheme of life on Dec. 20, 1976, God delivered a blessed baby girl to Donald Ray and Alvenia Nichols in Bogalusa. She was the second of three children born to her parents.
Sis. Porter joined the New Zion Missionary Baptist Church at an early age under the leadership of the late Rev. A.L. Owens. She remained a part of the New Zion Church family under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. Linza R. Cotton. Racie moved to Atlanta, in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina. She found a church home and worshipped regularly at the Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church under the leadership of Pastor Benjamin Lockhart II. In 2010, Racie’s health began to worsen so she moved back to Varnado to be closer to her parents. She continued to worship at New Zion until her death.
Sis. Nichols attended Varnado Elementary School. She completed middle school at Angie Junior High School. She was a member of the Varnado High School graduating class of 1994. She was always the life of the class, and the heartbeat of the party. She constantly joked around, and any event she attended she gave it life. Her personality was hugely friendly; she never met strangers. She lived her life with a free spirit and a kind heart.
Sis. Porter had a talent to do hair. She completed her training of cosmetology at Moler Beauty College in Covington. She shared her knowledge of the trade with many. She blessed so many with her gifted hands and her desire to share what she had.
Racie was wedded in holy matrimony to Timothy Porter. To this union, one son was born, Timothy Porter Jr. Racie was truly blessed to become a mother. God blessed her to be a mom and gave her a beautiful and healthy son.
Our beloved sister was preceded in death by her maternal grandparents, Bro. Walter Beck Sr. and Sis. Mazie Arnell Collins; her paternal grandparents, Deacon Duncan “Buddy” and Argie Walker Nichols; her uncles, Oneal Moore, Hershel Nichols, Charles Prater, Freddie Patterson, Walter Beck Jr. and Bobby Nichols; her aunts, Pauline Arnell Beck-Brown, and Lillie Sartin Nichols; and her godparents, Nettie Faye Foster and Joseph Green.
Survivors include her caring and loving son, Timothy Porter Jr.; parents, Donald Ray and Alvenia Nichols; brothers, Donald Scotel (Tina) Nichols, Kendrick (Valencia Shai) Nichols, Kelvin Moses Sr., Eric Magee, Kendall (Monique) Moses, and Lawrence (Monique) Morris II; her sisters, Chantea (Baron) Jones, Erica Magee (Troy) Walton, Latrice Martin, and Teandrea Moore.
She leaves her love to her aunts, Verteal Patterson, Stella M. Beck, Gloria Jean (James) McNair, Maevella N. Moore, Carrie Green Gayden, Clementine Nichols, Rosetta Burrell and Patricia Nichols; her uncles, Deacon Alvin (Bobbie) Beck, and John (Linda) Beck; her godparents, Maxie Rayford and Rev. Samuel Green Sr.; her godchildren, Sherrell “KeeKee” Martin, Micah Smoot, Jayla “Mooka” Peters, and Carleigh Harry; a devoted cousin, Carla (Willie) Jenkins; her godsister, Angela Newkirk; her very special friends, Yolanda Peters, Patrice Hooks-Jackson, Tamara Haynes, and Tiffany Barnes; and a host of loving nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.