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Stephanie J. (Porter) Pikora, 61 originally of Dudley, Mass. but more recently of Harrisburg, PA, passed away just after 3 a.m. on Thursday, May 16, 2024.
She was the youngest of five children born to Lorraine (Bonnette) and Lawrence Porter in Webster, MA on Oct. 14, 1962.
It wasn't long before she first met the love of her life and future husband Dennis. When he was 6-years-old he couldn't recall the address of his new home on the way from school. He saw a window sign that the Porter family was in a local parent volunteer group, so he got off at 4-year-old Stephanie's house. While the grown-ups tracked down the Pikora family, Dennis and Stephanie played house, something they would spend the rest of their lives doing.
The two reunited when she left Catholic school and began attending Shepherd Hill High School. They went to Dennis’s prom together and were a couple from then on.
After they married on April 29, 1984, they briefly moved to Nashua, NH and then Goffstown NH prior to the birth of their first son Daniel. They moved to Londonderry before welcoming their new daughter Jillian. Then their family was complete.
As the children grew, Stephanie's community involvement grew with it. Over their 14 years in Londonderry she served as PTA president, Boy Scout Cubmaster and Den Leader, Welcome Wagon President, Girl Scout Service Unit Manager, Catechism School Teacher, Londonderry Historical Society Secretary, Playground Committee member, Treasury of the Londonderry Democratic Party — all while working as a tax preparer, selling Tupperware and Longerberger, and becoming an antiques picker.
When Dennis’s work took the family to Sammamish, WA then Cary, NC, next, Apopka, FL, and finally Harrisburg, PA, Stephanie was always ready to join the local welcome group and begin volunteering with the Girl Scouts. If she wasn't running a troop (usually with her now adult daughter) she was training other parents to become leaders. She thought it was important to give back to her community wherever she lived and help children grow in courage, confidence, and character.
Over the years she organized many appreciation events for volunteers in the communities she lived in throughout the country, but it is seeing the success of the scouts themselves (most of whom are now adults with families of their own) that made her most proud.
After a sore back sent her to the hospital, Stephanie was unfortunately diagnosed with multiple cancers and died five days later – at home with her husband by her side.
She is survived by her husband, their children, her siblings, and extended family.
She will live on in their memories.
Her funeral arrangements were made privately.
In lieu of flowers please make a donation in her name to the American Cancer Society.
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