Sandy Potter

Extremely small at birth, her first crib was a shoe box and not surprisingly she developed a little smaller than most in stature. Sandy grew up in the rural country side outside of Custer, South Dakota experiencing a sometimes horseback ride or the rigors of trudging to and from school in a climate famous for deep snow and bitter cold.

Grown up, her first marriage to Ron Cowen took her into a field of Teamsters Union administration and related activities. In the course of time, Sandy became involved in the medical field and the position of top level Emergency Medical Technician or EMT. She was ultimately hurt on the job having to lift injured patients much larger than her and migrated into a parallel field of hospital administration.

Sandy’s first marriage produced three children, two sons and a daughter, but eventually ended in divorce. Her work then turned to the demands and rewards of foster care for teenage and immigrant victims of the times. Her success was proven by the continued contact with several of the children, now grown, who she enriched. With a later marriage to Boyd Potter, she became owner/operator of a quick change lube facility which may have partially explained her preference to set of tools over chocolates and bouquets at gift occasions. All too soon, Boyd, a veteran of Vietnam was taken from her, a victim of Agent Orange.

Sandy’s daughter grew up and married, produced four children of which a set of twins, a boy and a girl, each suffered some disability from birth. This moved Sandy into the field of physically impaired and disabled which she embraced, not just for own, but for everyone. Her work expanded locally and state wide, finding her on the Board of Directors of the South Dakota School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and on the Governor’s Special Commission to oversee disabilities. Along the way, Sandy graduated from the Rapid City Citizen’s Police Academy and was a sworn advocate of the court for correctional enforcement in the field. In the middle of all of this, she also ran, although unsuccessfully, for State Representative of the South Dakota Legislature.

Although small in stature, Sandy, sometimes labeled “feisty”, was never at a loss to express her ideals and programs to anyone in any activity she approached. That was illustrated by a 2:00 AM, phone call to the Governor of South Dakota to straighten “Bill” out on a serious miscue. It worked.

Sandy left us on October 27, 2016. She is survived by her brother Lyle Jr., sister, Bonita, two children, Lisa and Rodney, seven grandchildren, her life companion, Elmer and a host of connected family, friends and neighbors who knew her as a lady qualified as “one of a kind”.

Among things she liked, Sandy’s favorite flower, appropriately, was the Tiger Lily, a beautiful and delicate flower which could only be said to reflect her personality. A tiger she may have been, but a tiger with the wings of an angel.