William Lawrence Pottenger (1916 - 2010)

Born 21 Dec 1916 in Kankakee, Kankakee, Illinois, USA

Ancestors

Died 20 Sep 2010 at age 93 in Indianapolis, Marion, Indiana, USA

Biography

William Lawrence "Larry" Pottenger was a son of Lloyd A. and Lola Graves Pottenger. The family moved to Indianapolis when Larry was five years old. He graduated from Washington High School in Indianapolis and from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, majoring in horticulture. He was a member of the first class of landscape architects at the university, and traveled to Taliesen near Spring Green, Wisconsin, where Frank Lloyd Wright was his instructor. During his career as a landscape architect for the Pottenger Nursery and Landscape Co. in Indianapolis, he designed and supervised the landscaping of countless homes and buildings around the city, and designed many award-winning exhibit gardens for the Indianapolis Flower and Patio Show. He was a charter member and president of the North Side Optimist Club and the Pike Township Lions Club, and was a member of the Masonic Lodge and the Shrine, as well as the Indianapolis Landscape Association. Larry was a kind and patient father and grandfather, and always managed to visit his grown children on holidays, or host them at Christmas. Larry and his wife, Ellen, loved traveling and camped in many of our beautiful western National Parks. They later visited their exchange student Renato Taiana in Lake Como, Italy. Larry was predeceased by brothers, Lester Graves and Richard Lloyd; and by sisters, Doris Chapman and Miriam Shasteen. He is survived by his wife, Ellen Glenn Pottenger, with whom he celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary in August; brother, Lloyd A. Jr. and wife Nancy; sister-in-law, Marjorie Pottenger; daughters, Suzy Foster and husband David of Boulder Junction, Wisconsin; Judy Rysdon and husband Roy of Cary, North Carolina; and son Lawrence G. Pottenger and wife Amy of Pocatello, Idaho; and nine grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren. A memorial service was conducted on October 18 at the First Congregational United Church of Christ, Indianapolis, and a portion of his cremains were interred in the church's memorial garden. The other portion of the cremains were interred at Washington Park North Cemetery. Family links: Parents: Lloyd Alson Pottenger (1887 - 1967) & Lola M Graves Pottenger (1887 - 1987) Burial: Washington Park North Cemetery, Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, USA; Plot: Garden of Gospel Section, GPS (lat/lon): 39.85471, -86.20001 ^[1]

^[2] A great many Indiana people are familiar with the products if not the plant and grounds of the Pottenger Nursery, located on Route 52, seven miles northwest of the Circle at Indianapolis. Mr. Pottenger is an experienced nurseryman, and has built up an extensive business supplying all kinds of flowering and ornamental plants. His specialty is the growing of peonies, the main plant of which is located on ten acres of ground. In 1930 he purchased the Lowry Nursery, adjoining his place, consisting of fifty acres, all in general line in growing nursery stock. Mr. Pottenger was born in Kankakee, Illinois, April 23, 1887, and represents an old family of Northern Indiana. His great-grandfather Pottenger came to Indiana from Southern Ohio and was a pioneer minister. Mr. Pottenger?s paternal grandparents were Wilson and Mary (Armstrong) Pottenger, Wilson Pottenger was born near Hamilton, Ohio, was brought to Indiana when a boy and as a young man studied medicine and practiced that profession with success and honor. During the Civil war he became a first assistant surgeon in the Seventy-third Indiana Infantry, and was in all the fighting of his regiment up to the siege of Atlanta, and later was at the battle of Nashville. The father of Lloyd A. Pottenger was William T. Pottenger, who was born at LaPorte, Indiana. Early in the Civil war he and a boy chum went to Indianapolis for the purpose of enlisting. His companion failed to pass the tests, and this put a damper on the desires of William T. Pottenger to go to the front. On account of his age and because his father was in the service, Gov. Oliver P. Morton paid his expenses back to his home town at LaPorte. Later he carried out his purpose of becoming a soldier, being fourteen years old when he enlisted, and served as a private in the Army of the Cumberland until the end of the war and was with Sherman in his march to the sea. After the war he followed farming. He and his wife are buried in Crown Hill Cemetery at Kankakee, Illinois. William T. Pottenger married Zipporah Herrick. They had a family of seven children; Belle, wife of John Walliscraft, of Chicago, Illinois; James, who married Grace Newton; Nellie, wife of Charles Woodruff; William A., who married Martha Livingston; Avery, who married Bertha Lyon; Lloyd A.; and Laura, who married Ed Shogren. Lloyd A. Pottenger was educated in schools near the City of Kankakee, Illinois, completing his school work in 1907. For a time he was physical director at Pontiac, Illinois. Following that he was athletic director of Eureka College at Eureka, Illinois, taking his college work at the same time, and also took work in physical training with Y.M.C.A. College at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. He then went to Spring Hill College at Mobile, Alabama, where he was physical director. During summer vacations he sold books and for a time acted as sales manager for a Chicago house, with territory in two states, Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. Mr. Pottenger left this work to engage in business for himself as a nurseryman, purchasing the Kankakee Nursery, which he operated, until coming to Indianapolis in 1922. He still owns the land on which the Kankakee Nursery is situated and is president of its operating company. Mr. Pottenger is a Republican, a member of the Masonic Lodge and Methodist Episcopal Church. He married, April 4, 1914, Miss Lola Graves, daughter of Elizur and Arvilla (Slauson) Graves, of Madison, Wisconsin. Her father was in the grain and live stock business. Mrs. Pottenger graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1910. They have six children: Lester, Lawrence, Richard, Doris, Miriam, and Lloyd, Jr. ^[3]

Birth

Date: 12 DEC 1916 {incorrect date from FindAGrave- True date is 21 Dec 1916 per his dau Judith POTTENGER Rysdon - change made 07 Oct 2012}

Place: Kankakee, Kankakee, Illinois, USA ^[4]

Death

Date: 20 SEP 2010

Place: Indianapolis, Marion, Indiana, USA ^[1][5]

Alias

Alias: Larry Pottenger ^[1]

Burial

Burial: Garden of Gospel Section, GPS (lat/lon): 39.85471, -86.20001

Date: ABT 23 SEP 2010

Place: Washington Park North Cem, Indianapolis, Marion Co., Indiana ^[3]

Reseach Notes

Found multiple versions of NAME. Using William Lawrence Pottenger.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} "BillionGraves Index," database, FamilySearch [1] : 24 June 2015, W. Lawrence "Larry" Pottenger, died 20 Sep 2010; citing BillionGraves (https://billiongraves.com/grave/W-Lawrence-Larry-Pottenger/11336431 : 2012), Burial at Washington Park North Cemetery, Washington, Marion, Indiana, United States.
2. ↑ Source: #S84 Page: http://www.pottenger.org/lloyd.htm Data: Text: Lloyd A. Pottenger Sr. Submitted by Judy Rysdon The following has been copied from VOLUME 111, pp. 366,367, INDIANA, One Hundred and Fifty Years of American Development, by Charles Roll, A.M. Assisted by an Advisory Council INDIANA BIOGRAPHY (Gratuitously Published) By Special Staff of Writers, ISSUED IN FIVE VOLUMES, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago and New York, 1931 LLOYD A. POTTENGER.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Find a Grave, database and images, accessed 17 December 2020), memorial page for William Lawrence “Larry” Pottenger (21 Dec 1916–20 Sep 2010), Find A Grave: Memorial #59080238, citing Washington Park North Cemetery, Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, USA ; Maintained by Rick France (contributor 46581221).
4. ↑ "United States Public Records, 1970-2009", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJHX-C898 : 14 May 2020), William L Pottenger, 1998-2004.
5. ↑ "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch [2] : 4 December 2020, William Lawrence Pottenger, 20 Sep 2010; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).

• Source: S210 Title: Descendants of Elizabeth Dean, Unknown, Online at http://donsevers.com NOTE Descendants of Elizabeth Dean, Unknown, Unknown. Online at http://donsevers.com. Privately held by Unknown, 2011.

See Also:

WikiTree profile Pottenger-721 created through the import of Pottenger Surname_Wiki_Sub_2012-02-13.ged on Feb 13, 2012 by Tom Pottenger. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Tom and others.