Bill Porter

Bill was the son of Pearle Wadeligh Porter a wealthy land owner south of Herscher. My Grandfather farmed for the Porters and lived in a house next to the big Porter home in Milkes Grove Township in Iroquois County in the 1930's. Bill had a small WW2 surplus airplane and his own landing strip. He also had a lion as a pet in the 1940's. He got another lion about 1953. They had a small house built north of their homestead, where Pearle owned half of the section and her brother Morey owned the other half. The house had a room built especially for the lion with steel bars and all. It was featured in an article in Time Magazine in the 1950's. The house was torn down a year ago and a new one built this year. He and his sister lived together and never were married. They are buried NE of the original house in a cemetery that was recently reconstructed. It contains the remains of the lion, a pony and other family pets. I climbed over the fence and took pictures while Aunt Dorothy waited in the car with Mom as it was raining and muddy.