Bill Porter, Portland's famed door-to-door salesman, has died at age 81

http://www.oregonlive.com ^ | December 05, 2013 | Tom Hallman Jr

[lowbridge]

When I met him he was 63. He had cerebral palsy and spoke and walked with great difficulty. When he was a young man, the state considered him unemployable and suggested he collect disability payments. He refused.

For more than 40 years he earned a living selling Watkins products on routes that took him through Portland's westside neighborhoods. At night, he would return to his small house. Hunched over an old typewriter and with a twisted hand, he slowly banged out orders for everything he'd sold that day.

For several years he was Watkins' top retail salesman in all of Oregon, Idaho, Washington and California. When I wrote about him, he was the only one of the company's nearly 50,000 salespeople who sold door-to-door.

Until I wrote about him, hardly anyone really knew Bill. If anything, Portlanders recalled him only as the odd man who shuffled along the downtown transit mall, the strange man they spotted trudging through neighborhoods.

But the story about his life and his journey touched something in readers.

[Jane Long]

When I started in sales, they *gave* me a territory with NO billing accounts. I was just happy to have a territory! It became a Major Accounts territory within a few years. Our area manager was almost as proud of that, as I was.

If you're willing to shake the bushes, you'll flush the orders out.

[greeneyes]

Thanks for the ping. So much for the know it all bureaucrats who passed judgement on him. The bigotry of low expectations is the bain of our existence and impacts more people than we can imagine.

Especially the stidemts of those teachers who think they know which student is worth their effort and which are not. All students are worth 120% effort. JMHO

[greeneyes]

stidemts = students

fingers ran away from me there out of position

[WildWeasel]

Rest in Peace Bill Porter. Job well done.

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.

[Ann Archy]

What is Watkins?? Never heard of them. 50,000 PEOPLE work for them??

[lowbridge]

I worked for them (never sold a single thing though). If bill porter was their best, i was their worst. I still have my sales kit somewhere around the house.

http://www.jrwatkins.com/

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watkins_Incorporated

[Black Agnes]

Watkins vanilla is wonderful. I don’t use anything else.

If you make lemon squares or lemon meringue pie you must use their pure lemon extract.

[Ann Archy]

Thanks.

[trisham]

That’s wonderful. Thanks!