Wreath Laying Ceremony at the Garden of Remembrance
Husted and Draper Halls, UAlbany Downtown Campus
[N.B. Numerous photos and pages from the printed programs are available for viewing on Potter club web site in the Edward Potter 100th Anniversary Album of the Photo Gallery.]
Centenary Event Memorializing the Death of 1st Lt. Edward Eldred Potter
More than two dozen Pottermen, spouses, guests, and University Alumni Association officials gathered on a rainy day to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Death of Edward Potter with a wreath laying ceremony at the new Garden of Remembrance at the downtown campus. At approximately the same time a wreath was also placed on Edward’s grave in the Suresnes American Cemetery, Suresne, France outside Paris.
A
ceremony was conducted in the Husted Hall amphitheater followed by the wreath
laying at the World War I memorial plaque in the Garden. A printed program for
the ceremony is posted in the Album, Edward Potter 100th in the Photo Gallery on
the Potter Club Alumni Association website.Following the Pledge of Allegiance led by Gary Penfield, `63, Potter Club President, 1963, the group was briefly welcomed by Lee Serravillo, Executive Director of the Alumni Association. He graciously acknowledged the outstanding effort put forth by Loida Vera Cruz, in organizing most of the details for the event. Loida has been an indispensable asset to our functioning.
Paul Ward, `53, Potter Club President, 1953, welcomed the group and presented a summary of Edward’s life. Paul’s remarks follow:
“On behalf of the Edward Eldred Potter Club Alumni Association and the UA Alumni Office I wish to welcome you to this centenary event remembering of the death of 1st Lt. Edward Eldred Potter who died in France on August 1, 1918.
Much
we know of Edward’s life we owe to his sister, Cordella’s 85 page memoir written
in 1935 which in part contains 35 letters and diary entries written by Edward
mainly when overseas. Edward was born September 3, 1891 at Windfall in a poor area in NW New York State. He was the youngest of four children of Frederick and Rose Eldred Potter. His parents separated in the late 1890’s. By the early 1900’s three of the children settled with their mother in Plattsburgh. Here, Edward graduated from Plattsburgh Normal School’s Campus High School. “Eddie” as he was listed in the census majored in industrial arts which he taught for a year in Glens Falls, NY.
He accepted a scholarship to Union College in the fall of 1914. After spending a semester there he transferred to the newly named New York State College for Teachers (NYSCT) in January 1915 where he joined the class of 1918.
On April 6, 1917 the U.S. entered the European conflict then raging in Europe. The following month he applied for the army’s Officer Candidate School. He left Albany on May 13, 1917 for the Madison Barracks located at Sacketts Harbor on Lake Ontario near Watertown.
He confided to his sister that he was beginning “a great adventure”. Following the OCS program he opted in August to attend US Signal Corps Preflight Training course then offered at Cornell University. October he received orders to leave for overseas. Finally, with the “hurry up and wait” army he boarded a troop transport bound for France in January, 1918.
Assigned to a flight school SW of Paris he began his training. The training was most rigorous. One indicator was that he was in the air 64 times in a two week period.
His letters clearly indicated his character and intellectual ability. The following are examples of these traits:
* He enjoyed philosophy and debated with his sister about certain passages from Shakespeare.
* He obtained a used bicycle and with others toured the countryside; one excursion rode a round trip of 70 kilometers.
* He greatly enjoyed poetry and his memoir includes a number of his favorites .
* He was a voracious reader and in a short time during his training he acquired a 45 book collection which when transferred donated them to the Red Cross. He further took the initiative to contact his squadron members taking orders for books available at Brentano’s book store in Paris. His order for 200 books came to $648!
* Had a sense of humor in that when his mother knitted him a sweater he noted that it would probably fit someone of 300 lbs. He gave it to the largest man in his barracks.
* He was social and outgoing making friends with a number of French families leading to his becoming quite conversant in French.
Oh yes! He was partial to red headed girls! Never had a steady, telling his sister there was safety in numbers.
On May 13th he completed his flight training along with a commission as 1st Lt. Even so he continued necessary flight exercises to prepare him for combat at “the front”.
He
mentioned several times that he hoped to fly a Liberty powered plane. This
referred to the DH-4 a fighter bomber built in the U.S. In July he received
orders to transfer to another field where shipped planes were assembled. Pilots
were needed to ferry the assembled planes to various other bases where they were
needed.On August 1, 1918 after completing his first transfer flight, he was assigned to fly a DH-4 to Orly field in Paris. There are several versions of what happened that day. There is general agreement that approaching Orly his motor failed and attempting to avoid hitting
workmen on the field made a sharp turn causing his plane to crash mortally injuring him; dying on his way to a hospital. He was buried at the Suresnes Military Cemetery outside of Paris.
Thus ended his “great adventure”. The memory of this man has been kept alive through the establishment of the EEPC and subsequent Alumni Association. This has provided for many of us with lasting fellowship for close to 90 years.”
In the absence of a member of the Potter Family, Susan Potter Mintzer sent the following greeting on behalf of the Potter Family to Paul Ward.
Paul,
I am so sorry to take so long to get back to you!
I am disappointed that I will not be able to join you for the 100th Anniversary Commemoration of
Edward Potter's Death Ceremony.
On behalf of my family, I would like to thank you and your Pottermen alumni for your tireless effort of
honoring my grand uncle Edward.
My family always honored our military heroes with recount of their names and wars but I knew little
about their individual histories. Through your stories, I have learned so much more about Edward
and his sacrifice. Through your example, I have learned so much more about Patriotism and fraternal
organizations.
Your Potter Club is testimony to true American Patriotism! My hope is that the new generations of
scholars at UAlbany take notice of your example and carry similar pride into the world as they set out to
keep America great!
I am proud to know you and your Pottermen alumni. Please know that I will be with you in spirit
on August 1st!
Robert Fairbanks, `64, played Taps to conclude the indoor part of the ceremony. [N.B. Taps was recorded by Bob at a later date to insert here.]
The gathered group went to the area outside Husted and Draper Halls in the Peristyle connecting the two buildings for the wreath laying ceremony. Eugene McLaren, `45 and Jack Higham, `57 moved the wreath to the WWI Memorial plaque area, which concluded the ceremony.
The group then adjourned to the Alumni House for lunch.
Paul
Ward has asked me to say a few words about President Brubacher. 
named
Pierce Hall in 1941; 3) doubling the size of the faculty and the student body
while greatly increasing the qualification of both bodies (for faculty he
introduced Sabbatical leaves so they could earn advanced degrees while for
student he continually raised the standards for admissions from 70% on the
Regents Exams in 1916 to the point where the cutoff point for admissions was
regents scores in the mid to high 80% by the end of his tenure and more than
doubled course offerings; 4) greatly increasing extension teaching in the
Capital District Region and expanding summer sessions (from 250 in 1917 to 1,400
in 1939), and with that came greater graduate student enrollment; 5) winning
national recognition for the academic quality of the NYSCT (the school’s
graduates were placed on the list of institutions preparing approved students
for graduate work in 1921 by the Association of American Universities and in
1931 the school’s female graduates were approved for membership in the American
Association of University Women, both singular honors.