1920–24 and 1926–29. They also installed central heating in their house. His mother taught Robert to read before he started school, but his formal education began in a one-room schoolhouse with a pot-bellied wood stove; about four grades were gathered together. He learned much of Shakespeare by his teacher's practice of having "Shakespeare quotation" bees. He would go home afterward and pore over his family's volumes of Shakespeare, culling new lines for the next bee. At the age of ten, Robert announced to his father his intention of becoming an actor. His father was very much against the idea. As a youngster Robert learned to fish for trout, rock bass and gig giant bullfrogs from the North Fork of the Holston River. He also learned how to shoot guns, along with hunting and trapping. His favorite was raccoon hunting. The first great sorrow of his life happened when he was twelve years old. He had fallen in love with a girl named Mary. One spring Sunday morning, he was supposed to meet her for Sunday school but she never came. He learned later that day that she had died in her sleep the night before. The brokenhearted Porterfield ran away for a while; when he returned home, he found his mother waiting up for him with hot milk toast. Mary's family gave the boy a gold heart locket which she had worn. Robert kept that locket close to him for the remainder of his life. He joined the school debating society for the chance to perform in front of audiences. He became the spark plug that instigated class plays at Saltville High School. He almost married a girl named Helen, who was a few years older than Robert and lived in nearby Marion. At the last minute, he turned the car around and drove her back home. After graduating from Saltville High School, Robert enrolled at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. He stayed for two years, performed with the college acting company, the Jongleurs, and became a member of the Kappa Alpha Order. Every year, the Hampden-Sydney College theater department awards one senior The Robert Porterfield Prize in Theatre who was "recognizing the great contribution to the community through the medium of theatre at Hampden-Sydney College" in his honor. While waiting for a reply to his application to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he took a train to Petersburg. While