Marietta L. Potok

Marietta L. Potok was born to Louise and Walter Tiffany on September 1, 1930 in Kingsley, Pennsylvania. She grew up playing the piano and snare drums in her school orchestra and was active in school plays. She was a basketball standout for Harford High School and went on to play basketball and graduate from Mansfield University with a BS degree in Education. Her first job was teaching first grade at Lincoln Elementary in Johnson City, N.Y. She was an active member of the Appalachian Mountain Club. She met her husband, Gene Potok, on a blind date. Gene worked for IBM and was a WW II veteran in the first wave that landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day. They were married in 1955 in Kingsley, Pennsylvania. Marietta went on to teach sixth grade in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. They had two boys, John in 1958, and Tom in 1960, both in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Gene gradually rose to become an executive for IBM in Armonk, N.Y. and RTP, N.C. while Marietta undertook the important work of raising two children. The boys briefly attended St. Timothy’s Elementary School in Raleigh, which would become an important part of Marietta’s life.

On September 2, 1989, Gene died after a long battle with cancer, he was 66. A year later Marietta resumed her teaching career at St. Timothy’s Episcopal School where she taught Kindergarten and had a strong impact on many young children for nearly 20 years until retiring in 2008. She was known for her beautiful poetry, and love of genealogy, being a member of both the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Mayflower Society.

She suffered a stroke three years ago, moving from MacGregor Downs to Woodland Terrace, and died peacefully at the William M. Dunlap Center on July 15, 2021, at the age of 90.

She is survived by her sons and their wives, John and Nancy Potok of Cary, NC, and their daughters Emily and Laura; and Tom and Judy Potok of Oak Ridge, TN and their two children Thomas (Madason) and Tiffany. She is also survived by her sisters Helen and Barbara (Gordon) and many nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held 1:00 pm Saturday, October 23rd at Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, 200 SE Maynard Road, Cary, NC 27511.

In lieu of flowers, the family prefers donations to be made in the name of Marietta to the William M. Dunlap Center or Greenwood Forest Baptist Church in Cary.