Museum the New Llano Colony



Lloyd Potter  

Birth: He was born in 1903 in New York.  

Family Information: Son of Edwin and Cora Potter.

Brother of Amy Potter.  

Description: In 1942 he was 6' tall and weighed 150 pounds with a light complexion, hazel eyes and brown hair.  

Pre-Colony History: In 1905 and 1910 he was living with his parents and sister in New York where his father was a newspaper editor. In 1920 he was living in Alabama with his mother and sister while his mother taught school.

In September 1930 he came to the colony from Washington, D.C. with his parents to visit the colony. They had entertained the Pickett family in their home while the later were in Washington and now came to see what it was all about.

Home in Colony: In September 1933 he was busy preparing the new quarters for himself and his mother at the "Bide-A-Wee cottage". He moved in while he while he was getting it ready, vacating the quarters he has occupied in the office buidling. These would soon be occupied by someone else, so as to have some one in the office building at night.  

Job in Colony: Soon after her arrival in December 1932 Jasmine Lewis was helping Lloyd, the fourth grade teacher, teach a Hungarian folk dance to Hilda and Genevieve Quipp, ages 9 and 10, to be performed at the Christmas program.

In January 1933 Doc Williams was planning a Gypsy Program for the theater; Sidney and Ethel Archer were helping him work it out "while the fiddles and etycetery were plinging and a plunking at the roof garden." Lloyd Potter, Gordon Pickett and Margaret (sic) and Jasmine Lewis were practicing the steps for Mrs. Archer's act.

In July 1934 the regular crew at the print shop included: Lloyd Potter, Harold and Mary Emery, Ben Low, Roy MacDonald, Anna Loutrel, George Leevey, Afton Lewis, Howard Stansbury, Mr. Ranft and Irene Hewitt.

Esther Allen, Mrs. Weatherwax and Bertha Richter helped out on the "Colonist" and "Democrat" days, plus both DeForest and Marvin Sanford could be seen there a good share of the time.

In 1934 he made a trip to the Gila location carrying a group of colonists to join their family members who were already working there.  

Other Info: For Christmas 1932 he and Claude Lewis cut a big long-leaf pine from the new athletic field, just to get the beautifully symmetrical top for a Christmas tree.

In August 1933 he and his mother were invited to the 35th wedding anniversary celebration of Drs. Robert K. and Cecil Williams.

In November 1933 the weekly bridge club met at the new home of Mrs. Myrtle Bradshaw. Those present were Misses Ruth Shoemaker, Vivian Busick, Mary Lou Monk, Doris Layer, Rhea Baldwin, Lloyd Potter, Earl Swenson, Lionel Crossland, Roy McClean, John Dougherty and Fred Busick.

In April 1934 he made a trip to the Gila location in his shiny new Pontiac roadster, taking several colony women to join other family members already there and to bring Mrs. Potter back to the main colony.

In June 1934, a group of 2nd-4th grade children were taken to the Sabine River for a picnic by their teacher, Mrs. Lentz, and Lloyd Potter in his Pontiac, into which the group of eleven all managed to fit. At the river, they went fishing and Lloyd rowed them across the river so each could get a handful of Texas soil to take back to Louisiana with them. They mixed the dirt with Louisiana soil for co-operation and brotherhood. They watched when a car honked its horn for the ferryman at Burr's Ferry and was taken across to Texas. For supper, they built a fire and had biscuits and eggs with strawberry jam. The group included: Dorothy Loutrel, Frances Peecher, Charlotte Hewitt, Ione Quipp, Lenin Tabb, Robert Peecher, Noel Lentz, Ernest Joynes, William Yost, Mrs. Lentz and Lloyd.

In June 1934 he and Afton Lewis performed a one-act play -- "A Pair of Lunatics" -- both did a credible job of acting and captured the heart of the audience.

In July 1934 Lloyd took ten boys including Sylvester Watson, Byron Busick, Billy Busick, Phillip Lentz, Joe Lentz, Jimmy Dix, Quentin Quipp, Kenneth Dean, Eugene Hewitt and Clarence Fread on a camping trip to Hadden's Ferry on the Sabine River. They swam for a while; borrowed the ferryman's rowboat and plowed up the river; ate fried potatoes and eggs, bread and jelly, and a fine icing cake. Come evening they set out trout lines and picked moss from the trees to make a bed. They played through the night, getting very little, if any, sleep.

In the summer of 1934 many of the colonists wanted to commercialize the colony dances by charging admission to outsiders so they could hire bands to come. After several bitter debates on the subject, it was finally agreed that colonists could lease the Roof Garden on evenings when it wasn't being used by the colonists, hire a band and charge admission if they so desired. In July 1934 a group including John Dougherty, Roy McLean, Rhea Mae Baldwin, Lloyd Potter and Roscoe Busick did lease the facility for Friday July 20th when Tony Babin would play, and July 26 when they would have a Mexican orchestra. They announced that outsiders would pay an admission fee of 75 cents.

In September 1934 Mrs. Potter directed an Indian version of the Cinderella story at the colony theater featuring her son, Lloyd, Ruth Wooley, Rozella Quipp, Wanda Ware, Jane Lentz and Lenin Tabb.

Post-Colony History: His father arrived in September 1934 and he left the colony with both his parents that same month, bound for Dallas, Texas; Mena, Arkansas; and other points north and east.

In 1940 he was living in Pennsylvania where he taught school. He married Blanche Lerner sometime before 1943 and they had two children and were listed in the US Quaker membership records book.  

Death: He died in Florida in 1983.  

Sources: New York Extracted Birth Index; New York State Census: 1905; US Census: 1910, 1920, 1940; "Llano Colonist": September 20, 1930, December 24, 1932, January 28, 1933, August 12, 1933, September 2, 1933, November 4, 1933, April 21, 1934, June 2, 1934, June 30, 1934, July 7, 1934, July 21, 1934, September 29, 1934; Draft Registration Card: WWII; US Quaker Membership Records; Pennsylvania Death Certificate: Blanche L. Potter; US SSDI; Florida Death Index;  

 

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