D. Mark Potter MD

D. Mark Potter, MD, born in Wichita KS on March 12, 1947, son of the late Donald C. and Mary Jo Potter, expired at home after a short illness on Tuesday, April 12, 2016. As a boy he moved about the country, following his father's profession as a public librarian, with his brothers and sisters Thomas Thane (Anna) of Elverson, PA; his late brother David; sisters Laurel Moriarty and Carolee (Peter), Kuchirka both of Jackson, MS. The moves always involved a houseful of books, music, the Steinway grand piano he never learned to play, and laughter. These moves took him to Ann Arbor, MI; Lawrence, KS; and Duluth, MN. At Duluth he was a crossing guard at Endion Elementary School, was a member of the Duluth Junior Symphony Orchestra on the violin, threw newspaper for the Herald and News Tribune, and attended one year of high school at Duluth East. The family then moved to Knoxville, TN, where in 1967 he graduated from the University of Tennessee, in spite of being a desultory student, with a degree in English literature. He was then selected as a member of the "Pioneer Class" of medical students at the fledgling Penn State University College of Medicine, graduating in 1971. He completed his postgraduate training at Penn State and at the University of Oregon College of Medicine, Portland, obtaining board certification in the subspecialty of Nephrology as well as in Endocrinology and Metabolism. Thereafter he was a member of the faculties of the University of Oregon and the University of Arkansas School of Medicine, Little Rock, returning to Penn State in 1983. He burned himself out in private practice in Lebanon, PA, from 1992-2006, where he was awarded the Teacher of the Year Award by the residents of the Penn State Family Practice Program. Mark was the privileged to join the Endocrinology staff at the Lebanon VA Medical Center, in 2006, finally retiring December, 2015, anticipating years of fly fishing and the study of English literature and poetry. It was not to be. He had been married to Patricia Bush of Hershey, and they had three sons, Benjamin, Cleona; Christopher, Hershey; and Gabriel, of Hummelstown, as well as Tammy Bush. July 19, 2012, he and the patient, vivacious, enduring and indomitable Susan Baney were married. They have been laughing ever since, especially when in the company of his best friend of 47 years and classmate in the "Pioneer Class", Henry, Travers, and his wife Sally, of Sioux Falls, SD. He has stepchildren, Stephanie Hamersky of Lebanon and Brad Foltz (Mary Miller of Northfield NJ, Ryan and Sarah Foltz, and Jon and Caroline Hamersky, step-grandchildren. His son Christopher has blessed the family with two beautiful granddaughters, Jaclyn and Joanna, Lykens. Mark and Sue's father John Baney have enjoyed a special relationship, with enough stories of Lebanon County to fill the Historical Society Library. Mark's passion was fly fishing, and he was becoming pretty decent an angler as time passed and then grew short. He was a protean reader, devouring fiction, nonfiction and poetry. His enthusiastic attempts at gardening were, he believed, the object of derision among his Amish neighbors in South Lebanon Township. Mark attended St. Matthews Lutheran Church, Lebanon, where he was frequently lector, and was a proud member of the Susquehannock Fly Fishers, Inc., enjoying many hours on the Quittapahilla and Tulpehochen Creeks with his old friend, Dick Henry, as well as many new friends in the club. In lieu of flowers, donations in Mark's memory may be made to St Matthews Evangelical Lutheran Church or the Salvation Army would be greatly appreciated. A memorial service celebrating Mark's life will be held Saturday, April 30, 2016 at 11:00 AM from Porterfield-Scheid Funeral Directors & Cremation Services, Ltd., 890 Isabel Dr., Lebanon, PA (next to Quentin Circle) with Rev. Robert Hoffman officiating. Family and friends will be received Saturday, April 30, 2016 from 10:00 AM to time of service at the funeral home. He has requested his ashes to be placed in the Duluth Ship Canal, Duluth, MN.