John Child Porter of Rexburg, who served as mayor of Rexburg for 16 years and publisher of The Rexburg Standard Journal newspapers for more than 40 years, died Friday. He was 99 years old and suffered a heart attack at Madison Memorial Hospital in Rexburg.

He was born May 28, 1912, in Rexburg, a son of Arthur Porter Jr. and Nell Child Porter. He attended schools in Rexburg, was student body president at Madison High School and was a member of the first graduating class at Madison High. Prior to that, high school classes were held at Ricks Academy.

He married his high school sweetheart, Mary Annette Oldham, Nov. 10, 1933, in the Logan, Utah, LDS Temple. His father was publisher of The Rexburg Journal at the time, and John worked with his father in the newspaper and printing businesses.

In 1941, John bought The Rexburg Standard, and he and his father ran both printing and newspaper businesses. His brother, the late Art C. Porter, ran The Journal for awhile. In 1954, Art and John reached an agreement where Art would take the commercial printing of both operations and John would take the newspaper operations.

Porter was active in Democratic politics throughout his life and served as secretary of the Idaho Senate during two sessions starting in 1949. He worked at numerous local and state political campaigns reaching as far back as Arnold Williams for governor. But he never let partisan politics get in the way of working for what he thought was in the best interests of the community.

For example, he openly supported efforts of the late Dick Smith, a Rexburg Republican active in state politics who variously ran for Congress and for governor. Porter openly endorsed and supported Smith in those efforts. He joked after his 1973 mayoral race that Dick Smith was the only person who contributed financially to his campaign for mayor.

Porter earlier managed the campaign of Smith's father, J. Fred Smith, when J. Fred ran successfully for mayor of Rexburg. Porter's father, Arthur, managed the campaign of one of Smith's opponents in that election, Grover Hemming. Things were tense between father and son for awhile.

He was active in city government and served on the Rexburg City Council for 13 years. He was elected mayor in 1973 and was re-elected three times. The Teton Dam flood occurred halfway through his first term, and he worked tirelessly with regional, state and national officials in guiding much of the rebuilding of the area.

The foundation for most of the infrastructure of today's city -- storm drains, upgraded water and sewer lines, curbs and gutters and many roads and streets – was established during his terms in office. In the face of opposition, he oversaw the widening of Second East Street from Main Street to the Erickson Dugway Road.

Porter, who was nearly completely bald by the time of his early 20s, wrote a weekly column for the newspaper called Bald Statements by Ol' Baldy. As editor and publisher, the columns generally had a couple of topics involving the community and what was going on. He always had a couple of jokes, and they often would not be judged politically correct by today's standards. He continued to write the column as mayor with a running account of the workings of city government.

In the late 1950s, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) would be moved to Idaho Falls. Porter and a handful of others worked to overturn that decision by questioning the credibility of the information supplied to church authorities who made that decision.

Porter kept the issue alive through his weekly column, periodic editorials and news stories. The efforts of this group were successful, and the church decided to leave the school in Rexburg. In later years, Porter would say the decision to leave the school in Rexburg was probably the most significant event in the city during the 20th century.

Porter's sons, John Austin Porter and Roger Porter, ran the newspapers when John went into semi-retirement and ran for mayor in 1973. Upon leaving the office of mayor, he and his wife divided their time between Island Park, Rexburg and St. George, Utah.

He was a lifelong member of the LDS Church and served a mission for the LDS Church in eastern Canada from 1931 to 1933. He was secretary of the mission for 18 months. He served in the Rexburg 4th LDS Ward bishopric for nine years and on the Rexburg LDS Stake High Council for five years.

In addition, he served on the Idaho Tourism and Industrial Development Council for 25 years under four Idaho governors, was on the board of East Central Idaho Planning and Development Association, served on legislative committees for the Association of Idaho Cities, served as an adviser and legislative committeeman for the American Association of Retired Persons, served on governor's Alcohol-Drug Abuse Advisory Council and served on Idaho Job Training Advisory Council.

He was named the master editor-publisher for 1966 by the Idaho Newspaper Association, was named the outstanding citizen of the year by the Rexburg Chamber of Commerce in 1983 and was given the Liberty Day Award by the 7th District Lawyers Association in 1983.

He was a charter member of the Rexburg Boat Club. He served as president for so long during the 1980s and 90s that he joked it was like a church calling and he'd have to die to get out of it.

Porter is survived by children, John Austin (Loretta) Porter of Kirkland, Wash., David Oldham Porter of Fairbanks, Alaska, Roger Oldham (Jan) Porter of Rexburg and Kathie Annette (Les) Bernard of Baker City, Ore.; siblings Warren Child (Viola) Porter of Rexburg, Mary Nell Harris of Salt Lake City, Ann Zollinger of Rexburg and Margaret (Terrell) Arnold of Rexburg; a great many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife in 1999; sisters, Jessie Morrell, Virginia Howell, Gertrude Gifford and Louise Clarke; brothers, Austin Porter and Art Porter; and grandchildren, Roy John Porter Clay and Sandra Bernard.

Services will be Thursday at 11 a.m. at the Rexburg 15th LDS Ward Church, 166 So. First East. Friends may call Wednesday 6-7:30 p.m. at Flamm Funeral Home in Rexburg and an hour prior to services at the church. Burial will be in the Rexburg Cemetery under the direction of Flamm Funeral Home.