Last update July 28, 2010 @ 12:00 AM
Mr. James Ivan Potts, Jr., age 90, of Shelbyville, died Monday, July 26, 2010, at Heritage Medical Center.
Funeral services will be 2 PM Friday, July 30, 2010, at First United Methodist Church. Reverend Dr. Lloyd Doyle will officiate. Burial, with full military honors, will follow in Hillcrest Memorial Gardens.
Visitation will be 12 noon until service time Friday at the church.
He was born in Shelbyville, Tennessee on September 10, 1919, the son of J. Ivan and Alice Virginia Potts. He has one brother, Harold Hall Potts, of Huntsville, Alabama. He attended Shelbyville Central High School and graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1942 with a B.S. Degree in Commerce. While at the University of Kentucky, he served as President of Phi Delta Theta social fraternity and Captain of Scabbard and Blade, national military society. He also served as Regimental Adjutant of the Reserve Officers Training Corps. He was a member of Lamp and Cross, a senior honorary society and Vice President of the Student Union Board.
Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant, army air Corps. He served as a B-29 Pilot with 25th Bombardment Squadron, 40th Bombardment Group (VH) in India, China, and Tinian in the Western Pacific. He completed 35 missions and 8 “hump trips” with a total of 525 combat hours.
In September 1945, he was selected as a pilot on General Curtis LeMay’s personal crew. On September 18, 1945, the crew completed the record breaking long distance flight from Japan to Washington, DC. The flight broke four Army Air Force records. He received a personal commendation from General of the Air Force, H.H. Arnold for his participation in this flight. He was separated from active duty as a captain in 1945.
His awards include two Distinguished Flying Crosses, four Air Medals, the Army Commendation Medal, two Presidential Citations, and the American Campaign Medal with one Battle Star, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with four Battle Stars, the Victory Medal and the Philippine Liberation Medal with one Battle Star. He was awarded the Chinese Memorial Medal and Senior Pilots Wings by the Republic of China. He holds a commission as a Colonel (Retired) in the Tennessee Air National Guard.
In 1946-47, he served as a Foreign Service Officer, Department of State, in the U.S. Embassy, in Lima, Peru. He served as Chief of Staff to Ambassador Prentice Cooper.
He married Miss Katherine Bishop Dale, of Nashville, TN on October 21, 1949, in Wightman Chapel at Scarriet College. They have on son, James Ivan Potts, III, who was born in 1959. He is married to Susan Cooper, of Canton, Georgia. They have two daughters, Elizabeth Ann, born in 1990 and Sara Katherine, born in 1994.
Ivan joined his father in Stewart Potts Motors, a Ford-Mercury dealership in 1950. He became the dealer in 1955 and was President of the firm until 1980 when the dealership was sold. Stewart Potts Motors was a very successful dealership, receiving recognition and many awards from Ford Motor Company.
He became a member of First United Methodist Church in Shelbyville on August 30, 1931, and has been a member since that time. From 1956-1964, he served as Chairman of the Official Board and as a member of the World Service Commission of The Tennessee Conference.
In the political arena, he was one of the authors of the Tennessee Motor Vehicle Dealer-Manufacturing Licensing Law. As a member of the Motor Vehicle Commission under four governors, he served as Chairman of Commission in 1963 under Governor Frank G. Clement.
A member of the Shelbyville Rotary Club for almost fifty years, he served as President in 1959-60. He was honored by the club as a Paul Harris Fellow in 1979.
He was a member of the Tennessee Automotive Association, serving as a Director and Secretary-Treasurer and as Association President in 1962. In 1967, he received the Andrew Jackson Award for his contribution to the automotive industry in Tennessee. In 1968, he was awarded the National Benjamin Franklin Quality Dealership Award by the Saturday Evening Post for citizenship, community service, and contributions to the automotive industry, representing the highest standards of American Business.
Having a serious interest in community affairs, he has held numerous local positions. He served as Shelbyville’s first Civil Defense Director under Mayor Eustice Williams. He served as a member of the Shelbyville Housing Authority. He served as Director and Vice President of the Shelbyville Chamber of Commerce and as Director and member of the Executive Committee of Peoples National Bank, Dominion Bank of Tennessee, and First Union Bank of Tennessee. He is a life member of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars.
A descendent of Thomas Jackson, he became a member of Stones River Chapter, Tennessee Society, Sons of the American Revolution in 1975.
An active supporter of scouting, he served as a member of the Executive Committee, Middle Tennessee Council, BSA. He organized and served as first Chairman, Two Rivers District, BSA. He holds the Scouting Long Rifle and Silver Beaver Awards.
He is a Life Trustee of the Webb Preparatory Scholl in Bell Buckle, Tennessee. He serves on the Executive Committee, Chairman of the Finance Committee, and as Chairman of the Parents Giving in 1976-77.
After the sale of Stewart Potts Motors, he became active in SCORE-ACE, the Service Corps of Active nad Retired Executives, sponsored by the Small Business Administration. In 1982, he became state coordinator of the program, supervising the efforts of over 100 volunteer consultants to small businesses across Tennessee.
In 1987, he became Associate Director of the Small Business Development Center at Middle Tennessee State University, a position he held until his retirement in 1990.
An avid student of history, he has authored two books, “The Potts Family of Bedford County, Tennessee” and “Remembrance of War,” published in 1995. His articles on World War II have appeared in Air Force Magazine, the Congressional Record, the Kentucky Alumnus, Friends Magazine of the Air Force Museum, and Alan Grigg’s “Flying Flack Alley.”
Other surviving family members include: brother Harold (Carol) Potts, Huntsville, AL; a niece Gigi (Al) Potts Daniel, Marietta, GA; a nephew Hal Potts, Huntsville, AL; a sister in law Nancy Dale Palm, Houston, TX; four nieces Lucinda T. Trabue, Nashville, Mary Dale(John) Fitzgerald, Nashville, Macy Lindsay Spearmen, Chapel Hill, N.C., Kathy Carmichael (Byrom) Poole, Birmingham, AL; two nephews Don Gray, Cincinnati, OH, Bob Spearman, Raleigh, N.C., a great niece, Katherine Fitzgerald Murphy, Alexandria, Virginia; a great nephew, David Fitzgerald, Nashville.
Pallbearers will be Jody Lambert, Hal Potts, Lee Roy Cunningham, David Fitzgerald, Tom Clifford, Eddie Dodson, Raford Hulan, Vic Dearen, Billy Hicks, and Cannon Tilford.
Honorary Pallbearers will be Past directors and Officers, of Peoples National Bank, Dominion Bank and First Union Bank. Past employees of Stewart Potts Motors, George Townes, Garland King, Bill Rooney, and Lee Flessor.
Memorials may be made to Webb School, Hospice Compassus, or First United Methodist Church.
Feldhaus Memorial Chapel is assisting the family with the arrangements.
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Mrs. Kathryn Phillips Daniel, age 85, of Shelbyville, died Wednesday, July 28, 2010, at Heritage Medical Center.
Arrangements are incomplete.
Feldhaus Memorial Chapel is assisting the family with the arrangements.
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Mr. Guy Fred Perkins, age 68, of Shelbyville, died Wednesday, July 28, 2010, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Arrangements are incomplete.
Feldhaus Memorial Chapel is assisting the family with the arrangements.