Christopher Scott Porter

Christopher (Pretzel) Porter, age 37, passed away on February 22, 2025. He left behind a crowd of broken hearted folks, including his fiance Maddie Zielinski, his mom and dad Rod and Kathleen Porter, his sister Anne Porter, and grandparents Richard and Jeanne Porter. Also his many aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. Chris was born in Columbus, Ohio but lived 99% of his life in Indianapolis. He squeaked through high school focused on making people laugh and doing as little school work as possible. For instance, he defied his mom by getting an A+ on his 'how-to' speech, 'How to be a Couch Potato.'

He started adult life as a body piercer in a tattoo shop. (every parent's dream) He met his kindred spirit Damon Lyden there, and happily joined Damon in launching The Sinking Ship pub on College Avenue. Despite his grandfather's warning that this was a tragically bad name for a bar/restaurant, the Ship was quite successful. Chris also spent many happy, sweaty nights playing drums in Damon's band, The Involuntary's.

Chris went on to work at Twenty Tap, the Koelschip, the 22nd St. Diner, Crown Liquor and Dorman Street. He was not interested in making money, but instead excelled in making friends. When dining in most Broad Ripple restaurants, we (his family) got blank stares when asking servers if they knew Christopher Porter. But when we said we meant Pretzel, we were instant celebrities as Pretzel's parents.

Chris was a talented artist and he signed his paintings with his initials CP. The initials were squished together and looked like a pretzel, hence the nickname.

Chris grew weary of serving ranch dressing, ketchup and diet sodas, and switched career paths in 2023. He passed the training to become an occupational therapist at a place called Little Star, working with autistic patients. He thrived in this new role, and worked hard to help his patients master new skills, while also making them laugh. Bringing humor into most interactions was the consistent theme of Chris's life. We all have cherished memories of the silly, joyful and irreverent ways he made us laugh.

We are grateful to God for gifting us with 37 years of soaking in Christopher's sunshine. We wish there could be more, and will always be eager to hear your memories of him.

A Celebration of Chris's life will be at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 1, 2025 at College Park Church. Friends may gather to share memories from 10:30 a.m. until service time. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to Outreach Indiana (www.outreachindiana.org/donate), which is a cause that was dear to Chris's heart.