Obit: Potter, Vivian (1889 - 1943)

Contact: Crystal Wendt
Email:  crystal@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Potter, Brooks, Gault, Rhea, Roedell, Holmes, Longenecker

----Sources: The Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark County, Wis.) 3 June 1943

Potter, Vivian (29 April 1889 - 31 May 1943)

Mrs. Wayne Potter passed away Monday, May 31, 1943, at Sacred Heart Hospital, Eau Claire, after an illness of several months duration.

Mrs. Potter was born April 29, 1889, to Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Brooks, then residing on a farm in the township of York, her given name being Vivian.

She was graduated from the Neillsville High school. Fitting herself for a teaching profession, she taught school in the rural districts of Clark County for several years.

On the 21st day of June, 1916, she was married to Wayne Potter. The couple farmed for several years, later going into the gas and grocery business in Neillsville, Wis.

She is survived by her husband and two daughters, (Marcia), Mrs. Robert Gault, Milwaukee, Wis., and (Jeanne) Mrs. James Rhea, Neillsville, and two grandchildren. She also is survived by her aged father, and three sisters, namely: Mrs. O. A. Roedell, Minneapolis, Miss Pearl Brooks, Atascadero, Cal., and Mrs. Eugene Holmes, Fresno, Calif.

A beautiful monument to the memory of Mrs. Potter is the long stretch of perhaps miles of forget-me-nots, growing luxuriantly on either bank of a stream which runs through the Brooks farm and for several miles down O’Neill creek, into which the stream empties. For this lovely sight, visited and admired each year by hundreds of people, Mrs. Potter, is directly responsible, the first plant being set out by her on her wedding ay June 19, 1916, when she selected the plant from the room decorations.

Mrs. Potter’s entire life was made up of deeds and thoughts of this character, precious indeed to her family and friends.

Funeral services will be held at the Congregational church Saturday, June 5, at 2 p.m., Rev. G. W. Longenecker officiating. Interment will be made in the Neillsville Cemetery