Celebration of Life Services for Russell Clifton Potts will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, July 27, 2018 at the Chapel of Lakeview Funeral Home, 5000 West Harrison Road, Longview, TX with the Rev. Lance R. Larison officiating. Interment will follow at Lakeview Memorial Gardens with full Masonic Rites.
Russell was born April 27, 1949 in Tangipahoa Parish, LA to John and Frances (Easley) Potts and passed away July 24, 2018 in Longview, TX. Russell attended Miller Grove Schools in Miller Grove, TX and graduated from the Texas Department of Public Safety Academy in 1969. Russell was first stationed with the Texas Department of Public Safety in Beeville, TX and then transferred to Longview in 1972. Russell went to work for Gregg County in 1981 where he was the Chief Criminal Investigator for the Gregg County Criminal District Attorney's Office for many years, and he was a member of the FBI East Texas HIDTA Violent Crimes Task Force. Russell retired from service in 2011 after over 39 years of service to his community. He was a member of the Spring Hill First Baptist Church, Pine Tree Masonic Lodge, and the Sharon Shriners of Tyler, TX.
Left to honor his memory are his wife Kathy Potts of Longview; son, Bradley Potts and his wife Karen of Murchison, TX; daughter, Lori McCullough and her husband Scott of Zionsville, IN; son, Bryan Potts and his wife Estrella of Greenville, TX; stepson, Kris Hiltzman and his wife Brooke of Midlothian, TX; stepson, Clay Hiltzman of Longview; grandchildren, Wesley Potts, Natalie Potts, Lainey McCullough, Libby McCullough, Will McCullough, Harper Hiltzman and Drake Hiltzman; stepmother, Bobbie Sue Potts of Kentwood, LA; mother-in-law, Pat Collins of Longview; brother, John Elliott Potts and wife Annette of Kyle, TX; brother, Johnny Potts and his wife Deborah of Dardanelle, AR; sister, Mary Anne Graffeo and her husband Kenny of Baton Rouge, LA; sister, Jacqueline Lambert and her husband Arthur of Denham Springs, LA; sister, Carolyn Simoneaux and her husband Tim of Florissant, MO; brother-in-law, Mark Collins and his wife Angela of Santa Fe, NM; as well as many close and beloved family friends. Russell was preceded in death by his parents, John Clifton Potts and Frances Rubena (Easley) Potts.
Pallbearers will be the Gregg County Sheriff's Office Honor Guard. A time of visitation with his family will be held one hour before the services at the funeral home.
The family requests that any memorial donations be made to the Shriner's Hospital for Children or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Those we hold closest to our hearts never leave us. They live on in the kindness they have shared and the love they brought into our lives.
