Obituaries: Wessie Vance Porter, 1943, Winn Parish, LA.
Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483
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From: February 26, 1943 Winnfield News-American

Mrs. Wessie Porter Of Atlanta Dies At Sister's Home Here

Winn's Only Woman Justice Of Peace Succumbs To Long Illness

Funeral services for Mrs. Wessie Porter, Justice of the Peace of Atlanta, Ward
6, and one of few women Justices of the Peace in Louisiana, died at the home
of her sister, Mrs. Howard Sowers, here Saturday, February 20, following
an illness of several weeks.  

Mrs. Porter had been with her sister, Mrs. Sowers, for two weeks before she
died, coming here for care and treatment.

She was born in Lincoln Parish, November 22, 1884, and when she was about a
year of age, her parents, the late Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Vance, moved to Atlanta,
where they resided the remainder of their lives.

Mrs. Porter attended high school in Winnfield, and later taught in the parish. 
Her husband, Jessie Porter, preceded her in death 29 years ago.

Upon the death of her father, J. W. Vance, in fall of 1932 who had served as
Justice of the Peace of Ward 6 for many years, Mrs. Porter was commissioned by
Governor O. K. Allen, as Justice of the Peace.  Thus she became Winn Parish's
first and only woman judge.

She was a member of the Atlanta Baptist Church, from which the funeral
services were held on Sunday afternoon, February 21, at 3:30 o'clock,
conducted by the Rev. Ray Collum, assisted by the Rev. H. H. McBride,
pastor of the First Baptist Church of Winnfield.  Interment was in the
Atlanta Cemetery.

Pallbearers were H. A. Gresham, C. H. Ferguson, E. G. Ferguson, Eliza
Jennings, and Guy McElroy.