Wilbur and Maralyn Porter:  Love, Life and Community Service in Post-WWII Hebron

The life journey of this dashingly handsome couple began on October 1, 1949 when Wilbur Porter married his longtime love Maralyn Ruschmann.  As active members of the community for over half a century, the Porters reminisce easily about the Hebron of yesterday and the Hebron of today.

The son of Hebron’s former First Selectman, Winthrop Strong Porter, and his wife, Ethel Hills Porter, Wilbur is a lifelong resident.  His family line goes back to Ebenezer and Mary Rowley Fuller, who moved from East Haddam to Hebron in 1738, just thirty years after the town was incorporated.   It was Mary Fuller who established the Hebron Tavern and Inn in the center of town, shortly after she was widowed.  And it was Mary’s great-granddaughter, Sybil Adaline Fuller, who married Epaphroditus Porter in 1830.  The newly established Fuller-Porter family continued to run the Inn, and later rebuilt the structure when it burned down in 1888.  In addition to the Inn (which today houses Staffmates), the family ran a farm as well as the famous Porter Grist mill. 

Maralyn’s grandparents, Joseph and Elizabeth Ruschmann, came from Germany, joining the massive influx of immigrants from tumultuous Europe in the early 1900’s, eventually settling in Connecticut.  Her father, Herman, was born in Amston, and her mother, Florence, was born in Willimantic.  Herman supported his wife and six children by working for the Bridge Street railroad project in Willimantic, a huge hub for the East Coast railways, especially during the Depression.  Maralyn attended Windham High School; it was there that she met Wilbur.  (In those days, Hebron students typically attended either Windham High School in Willimantic or Bacon Academy in Colchester.)

“I was going to a basketball game with some friends, and along the way, they picked up one of their friends.  It was Maralyn.  We sat way up in the bleachers, but I could tell she was gorgeous and friendly too.  The next day, I looked her up at school; the rest is history,” remembers Wilbur.

Shortly after he graduated in 1943, Wilbur joined the Navy.  After sonar training in Key West, Florida, he shipped out on the U.S.S. Mansfield to the South Pacific, joining up with the 3rd Fleet Fast Carrier Task Force. The Mansfield was a brand new ship, having been commissioned on April 14, 1944.  “We were on the move all the time, with air strikes on many Pacific islands throughout 1944,” remembers Seaman First Class Porter.  From early January 1945, the 3rd Fleet swept into the South China Sea.  Other naval ships were lost, but the Mansfield continued to do battle, mostly undamaged.  “Sure, we got hit, but we never lost a man,” says Wilbur.  The Mansfield was in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese surrendered to General Douglas MacArthur.

In the midst of all this action, Wilbur wrote home:  “Dear Folks:  We’ve read in our shipboard paper and have heard on the radio how joyfully the people at home greeted the Japanese surrender… [the U.S. flag] is our greeting to the world, our tribute to our fighting comrades, our gratitude to those who, before us, gave their lives for this hour of victory.  If, with our fighting friends of all the world, we could win a war, we know that we can and must win a happy, long peace.”

Following Japan’s surrender, the Mansfield returned to San Diego, California, where Wilbur and his shipmates continued training, just in case… He also had a 30-day leave, and his return to Hebron was celebrated in the Hartford Times:  it was his 20th birthday, and he had been gone for almost three years.  “A family dinner party was enjoyed and in the evening other friends and relatives came in to make the occasion a joyful one.”  Wilbur was finally discharged in March 1946 and returned home permanently to Hebron.

Throughout his service in the Navy, Wilbur and Maralyn corresponded frequently.  She had worked for the telephone company, but later took a job with Aetna Insurance in Hartford, her 1947 Plymouth making the daily commute.  Wilbur joined his brother, Doug, working at father Winthrop’s dairy farm and trucking business, hauling sand, gravel and sawdust all around the area. 

“In 1947, my father was the first in the state to provide bulk spread of agricultural limestone and fertilizer by truck,” said Wilbur.  (Prior to that, the materials were sold in 100-lb. bags.)  “He was innovative in so many other ways.  I remember some farmer from Ellington drove his tractor all the way to Hebron to demonstrate a hay baler.  Dad said, ‘Oh, we have to have one of those!’ so we bought it.  To help pay for the baler, Doug and I baled hay for other farmers all over Hebron, at 15 cents a bale.”

Within a couple of years, the Porters were firmly established in their various businesses, and Wilbur proposed to Maralyn.  In 1949, in the presence of almost 100 ebullient friends and family, the couple took their vows at the Methodist Church in Willimantic.

Maralyn continued to work at Aetna for the next six years.   “I was a fast typist,” she remembers, “and there was a bonus system.  I was able to make good money for that time, and Wilbur and I got ahead; we were able to build our home.”  She left Aetna with the birth of their first daughter, Peggy, in 1955.

The Porters’ progressive farming activities continued.  “Hand-milking had ended around 1935, and milking machines were now standard.  In 1956, we built a new dairy barn, which was called a “milking parlor”, a new concept at that time,” said Wilbur.  “The cows were free to walk around an enclosed area.  They could lie down in any free stall, as opposed to being locked up in a stanchion.  At milking time, the cows were brought into a milking area (parlor), ten at a time.  The parlors were slightly elevated and the person doing the milking stood in a pit.  This put the milking machines attached to the cows in a more comfortable working position for the milker.” 

Maralyn was drawn back into the workforce in 1957 when she started working in the Health Department at RHAM.  Daughter Susie was born in 1958, but Maralyn continued working at RHAM for the next 13 years.   “The nurse was Alice Stone, also known as “Aspirin Alice,” she recalls.  “We were a great team.”  When Aspirin Alice retired, Maralyn went to work at Hebron Elementary School. 

Winthrop Porter was tragically killed in a farming accident in 1967.  Following the loss, Wilbur, Doug and their mother Ethel incorporated and expanded the farm from 290 acres to over 400 acres.  The Holstein herd was increased to 275 cows.  The family sold their milk to the local co-op, which was responsible for finding buyers. 

It was also in 1967 that Wilbur also began his 33-year history as a Trustee of the Douglas Library, filling his father’s slot on the Board.  Shortly after that, Wilbur was named Director of the Tolland County Agricultural Center, an umbrella group for all organizations that worked with Connecticut farmers.  In 1968, he became a Director for the Connecticut Farm Bureau in Hartford, an organization that had been instrumental in passing Public Act 490, ultimately preserving thousands of acres of Connecticut’s open space from development.

For the next several decades, Wilbur and Maralyn traveled with various farm groups to Europe, Scotland, and Hawaii, studying new ideas in machinery and farming innovations, and bringing that knowledge back to Connecticut. Their love of travel continued, including a trip to Tahiti in 1986. 

Wilbur retired from the Porter Farm operations in 1990. Maralyn by then was working at the Douglas Library, and Wilbur continued his volunteer activities on the Board of Trustees, serving as President for over a decade. He also served on the Building Committee for the expanded Douglas Library, a role he is particularly proud of.  This past October, both Porters retired from their library duties. 

“We’ve been members of the Gilead Congregational Church for over 60 years, and I still mow the Gilead Cemetery since I’m Superintendent of the Cemetery Association,” said Wilbur.  “Maralyn and I may have retired some of our activities, but these are two things that mean a lot to us.  We’ll never leave Hebron.  We’ve seen a lot of changes in our lifetime, and change can be a good thing.”

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