Emily Lauren Porcher was born an old soul on June 22, 1987, on her mother's 30 ^th birthday.  And perhaps due to having an old soul she was able to finish her work on this earth early and unexpectedly returned to her heavenly home on Friday July 23, 2021, at the age of 34.

Emily was born in St. Paul Minnesota, the middle child of 3, to Eric and Julie Porcher (Cliff).  She was baptized into the church family of St. Timothy Lutheran Church and spent her early years in St. Paul until she moved with her family to the Rochester area in 1999. She attended and graduated from Dover-Eyota High School in 2006. She went on to Rochester Community and Technical College completing a Clinical Administrative Assistant degree and taking a position as a Clerical Assistant in a GI research lab at the Mayo Clinic in the Fall of 2008.

We all get dealt a hand to play in this life and Emily drew a tough one.  A diagnosis of a deadly brain tumor at the tender age of 2 and a half years did not bode well.  Given the prognosis of a 25% chance to live 5 more years Emily really beat the odds. Due to the tumor and the ensuing medical interventions she attained the towering stature of 4 foot 6 inches and compensated for that with a fierce spirit.

She was able to take 2 trips to Europe. One to the Holy Land and another to Germany. She jumped out of a plane skydiving back to earth, went bungee jumping and attended many a live music concert following her favorite bands.

Her passion in life was music and spending time laughing with friends.  She sang in her church choir, played the violin in the church orchestra and listened to music all the hours of the day that she could.

Although she was receiving medical care for a number of health issues Emily shocked and surprised us all one more time with her suspected cause of death being a heart attack, which was not on anyone's radar.  After all she was only 34.

She leaves behind her parents, older brother Logan Porcher and younger sister Samantha Porcher all of Rochester and many aunts, uncles and cousins she loved dearly.

The funeral for Emily will be at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, August 2, 2021 at Bethel Lutheran Church in Rochester with Pastor Jason Burggraff officiating. Burial will be at the Bethel columbarium.  Visitation will be Sunday August 1, 2021 from 4-7pm at the Macken Funeral home in the River Park Chapel and one hour prior to the service at Bethel Church on Monday.

Emily was a bright spot in many of our lives.  To honor the light she brought to us please leave your typical funeral finery in the closet and wear the bright colors of summer and we will celebrate her life as though we were going to a picnic.

Memorials will be given to the promotion of young musicians. Avenues of giving are yet to be determined but we will provide scholarships to youth who may not otherwise be able to attend band or choir camps, or purchase a musical instrument and the like.