John Mann Porter, Jr.

John Mann Porter, Jr. passed away on Sunday, June 3, 2018, at his residence in Collierville, Tennessee. He was 22.  Porter is survived by his mother and father, Elizabeth Gianotti Porter and John Mann Porter, Sr., and his sisters, Mary Elizabeth Porter and Anna Grace Porter.

A Funeral Service for John was held at 3 P.M. Friday, June 8, 2018 at the Collierville United Methodist Church on the Square with Rev. Tom Sauer, minister at Germantown Presbyterian Church, officiating. Interment followed in the Magnolia Cemetery in Collierville. Arrangements were provided by Peebles Fayette County Funeral Homes & Cremation Center - Main Chapel of Somerville.

John attended St. George’s Independent School in Collierville, Tennessee, and graduated in 2014. Following graduation, he attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Though he attended college in Arkansas, John was a true Tennessee Volunteer at heart, and never walked away from a game, regardless of the score. John loved the game, but joked his size was more suited for watching than playing. Rather than “getting hit all the time,” John turned his sights to the tennis courts where he was on the Varsity team throughout school. Highly competitive, John also played a mean game of ping pong, and often challenged family members and friends to impromptu games, where he rarely lost. A highly imaginative young man, John was also fond of making up his own games, with crazy rules and directions, in which all his friends would participate. His imagination worked in strategic ways as well, as evidenced by his skills behind a chess board and 14th Century war games.

John also loved the outdoors, especially spending time with his family and friends at Greers Ferry Lake and the Island River House. John was an avid hunter, though his passion shifted over time from hunting to photographing animals of all kinds. He loved observing creatures in the wild through the lens of his trusty camera, and his passion for nature and its offerings were apparent in his photographs. More often than not, John’s beloved dogs, Beau, Jack and Ginger, were by his side through every adventure.

His love of family was matched only by his love of friends, most of whom he had grown up with in the halls of St. George’s. They describe a mischievous but kind and funny young man, who was known to pull pranks and jokes on his closest friends, but loved with his whole heart and was “loyal beyond question.” His time spent in Los Angeles was a happy chapter for Porter. He lived with his uncle Frank, whose relentless positivity and constant laughter was uplifting at an important time in his life. Polite, bright, and funny, John made friends easily and will be missed by all those who knew and loved him.

John is survived by his extended family, grandfathers, Joel Howze Porter, Sr., and Frank Bernard  Gianotti III, grandmothers, Carolyn Mann Porter and Anne Younger Gianotti, uncles Joel Howze Porter, Jr., Frank Patrick Gianotti, Richard Mehren, and Taylor Alexander Cates, aunts, Carolyn Porter Cates, Rose Ferraro, Beth Moore Porter, and Joanne Gianotti Mehren, as well as cousins Joel III, Margaret and Emma Porter, Amelia, Thomas and Campbell Cates, Ryder and Rowan Gianotti, Evan Hudson and Minna Mehren.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be made to St. George’s Independent School .