Fr. Porter was born October 11, 1967 to Clara Womack Porter, a teacher, and Fulton Porter Jr., a mortician, in Jackson, Mississippi. He was baptized and confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church and attended the Catholic schools of the city. At an early age he sensed a call to the priesthood, encouraged by his devoutly Roman Catholic great-grandparents as well as priests and other religious at his parochial school. He also had a love of science, which sparked his ever-growing interest in medicine. His mother, Clara, joined St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Jackson and the young Fulton decided to follow her. From the moment he set foot in the church he knew he was home.
Fr. Porter graduated from St. Joseph High School and went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Morehouse College in 1989, where he was influenced greatly during mandatory weekly chapel by some of the greatest African-American preachers and orators in the country. He then went on to earn the Doctor of Medicine degree from Northwestern University in 1993 on scholarship from the U.S. Army. He completed residency training in Internal Medicine at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He has served at bases in Georgia, South Carolina and Kuwait and was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army having achieved the rank of Major.
He began to pursue his call to ordained ministry after seven years in the Army and received the Master of Divinity decree from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in 2004. Fr. Porter was ordained a transitional deacon in the diocese of Upper South Carolina in June 2004 and was ordained a priest in April 2005. Fr. Porter is bi-vocational and continues in the private practice of medicine as well as serving as rector of St. ThomasChurch, Chicago. He has been instructor of medicine at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine as well as the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and is a Fellow of the AmericanCollege of Physicians. He is an active member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. He is married to his beautiful wife Lisa. They have two children, Fulton Niles and Haleigh Elise. The Porters reside in Flossmoor, Illinois.
Fr. Porter also serves as Dean of the Chicago South Deanery in the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago.
Administrative Assistant
The administrative offices of St. Thomas Episcopal Church are located at 3800 S. Michigan Avenue, directly behind the church building. The fifteen plus room mansion on Michigan Avenue was dedicated as the church's parish house and is now the hub of the out reach programs. It houses the offices of the rector, administrative assistant, treasurer, and choir director, and has conference rooms, a dance studio, and several Sunday school classrooms.
Upon a call or visit to the parish house, the administrative assistant is the person who will greet and give help and assistance. She handles all correspondences and telephone messages for the church and the Rector, and is his first point of contact.
The administration assistant's hours are from 9:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M., but because one could find the parish house open almost any time of the day and evening due to special events or ongoing projects, the administrative assistant will be there overseeing everything.
St. Thomas Parish House phone number 773 268-1900
Carolyn Petway - Administrative Assistant
Tom hails originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and has a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Performance Major in Organ with a Minor in Voice) from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, and a Masters from Northwestern University School of Music in Organ. One of his most influential organ instructors was Karel Paukert who enlightened him to the joys of improvisation.
He has been playing in churches since he was fifteen. His most prominent position in Milwaukee was as the Assistant Organist at the Capitol Drive Lutheran Church. The church had close to 2000 members and twice a year presented organ recitals on its renown organ from such artists as Marie Claire Alain, Marvel Basile, Pierre Cochereau, E.Power Biggs, and Virgil Fox. In addition, the staff presented recitals several times a year.
After moving to Chicago in 1972, he became a member of Church of the Ascension. Besides being an acolyte there, he also served for many years as the organist for their Evensong & Benediction services which, at that time, were held every Sunday evening. He was the O/C at St. Clement's Church in Harvey for 6-years and then became the O/C at St. Paul's Church in Riverside. He left St. Paul's to assume the Music Director position at a Lutheran church in Northbrook.
From the late '80s to 2001, Tom was in management at Northwestern University in Evanston. During this period, he left any permanent church position and performed organ supply for the then Music Office of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago. For nearly 10-years, he had the privilege of supplying at a large number of the diocesan churches, as well as many Roman Catholic parishes in the Archdiocese.
In 1990, he transferred his membership to Church of the Atonement, and since 1992 has been the Assistant Organist for the parish with principle responsibility for the 9am Family Mass at Atonement. For 3-years he also was the O/C at Church of the Epiphany on Ashland.
After a call from Fr. Porter who had just been appointed the Rector of St. Thomas Church and knew of Tom from his providing supply at St. Edmunds, Tom assumed the O/C responsibilties at St. Thomas Church.
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FEBRUARY 2012 
Email The Very Rev. Dr. Fulton
