Wayne Louis Potvin 82, of Uncasville died Sept. 28, 2021 at Backus Hospital. He was born in Montgomery Center Vt. son of the late Louis and Emaline (Demar) Potvin. He married his wife Christine (Labare) Potvin on 9/5/64 in Richford Vt.
Besides his wife he is survived by his daughter and son in law: Tiesha Potvin DiMaggio and Thomas DiMaggio of Waterford, CT. He was predeceased by his son Christopher Wayne Potvin (9/13/71-1/15/87). He leaves his siblings, his brother Sherman Potvin and wife Ellie, his sister Joyce Bordo and partner Richard Colburn, his sister Sandra Ducolon, and his sister Jeanette (Potvin) Murphy, and husband James, as well as numerous nieces and nephews. He also leaves his cats, Tippy, Domino, and Patches, and many friends from school, work, sports, and the Christopher Potvin Scholarship Fund.
Wayne graduated from Enosburg Falls High School in Vermont in 1957, and proudly served his country in the US Army from 1957-1961. He was employed from 1961-1964 at General Dynamics Plattsburgh NY, from 1964-1965 at Boeing in Louisiana, from 1965-1994 at General Dynamics Electric Boat Groton CT(engineer in Dept 445 Weapons Dept.).
In 1994-1995 he was a Consultant for General Dynamics Electric Boat, in 1995-2005 he was employed by LEARN Old Lyme and from 2005-2019 Dr. Shiller and Goldman Gales Ferry CT.
Wayne purchased his family's home in Uncasville CT. They moved in on May 2, 1971 and lived there until his passing.
Wayne loved sports. He was a lifelong NY Yankees, NY Giants, Kentucky and UVM Basketball fan as well as a NY Rangers fan. He played baseball, basketball, and volleyball. As a player he was pitcher for the New London Morgan League where he played for Rollie Pier's Vagabonds. He also played AA minor league baseball.
He won various local awards for his talents in sports throughout the years including the highlights of Electric Boat Athletic Club Hall of Fame 4/15/2000 (baseball, volleyball, basketball), Sportswriters Alliance John Wentworth Good Sports Award 2012, Enosburg Falls High School (VT) Athlete Hall of Fame.
Wayne enjoyed passing down the love of the game to younger athletes and inspired his daughter to become a full time coach as her chosen profession. He coached Norwich State Bank Montville National Minor League, Montville Hardware Montville National Little League, Montville National Little League All-Star teams, Montville Babe Ruth, Montville Girls Softball 13-15 yr league, Norwich American Legion Baseball, Montville American Legion Baseball, and also served as a coach for a number of basketball youth leagues.
After his son died in 1987, Wayne established the Christopher Potvin Scholarship Fund. Wayne hanneled his sorrow and loss into helping those who embodied the spirit, academics, and athletic accomplishments of his son Christopher. This became a life-long passion and as of 2021, the scholarship fund has raised over $600,000 for local scholar/athletes. Monies were raised through his annual mail drive where he painstakingly hand wrote notes in all of his donations `requests. In addition to the mail drive the Christopher Potvin Scholarship Fund has also run various baseball and softball tournaments as well as our annual Golf Tournament. He was president of the fund and served on the board with his wife, Christine, daughter Tiesha, son in law Tom, and his son's best friend Bill Buscetto. His dream was to see the scholarship fund reach $1,000,000. His family and Bill will continue tirelessly to reach this goal.
We know that Wayne and Christopher will be looking down, and be happy knowing that we will continue to work hard to make this goal a reality. Wayne loved life and was active to the very end. He looked forward to everything, even the most mundane tasks he was able to find pleasure in. He loved to travel for many years when his kids were young. He looked forward to the family vacations we took every year and always looked forward to travelling to his home state of Vermont. He had visited many places over the years but some of his favorites were the Canadian Rockies, Alaska, Hawaii, the Desert Southwest, and the California Coast.
One year for Christmas in 1996, his daughter Tiesha surprised him with a family trip to Disney World in FL, for Disney's 25 anniversary. We noticed he looked like the biggest kid in the park with a turkey leg in one hand, and a smile on his face the entire vacation.
Calling hours will be Friday Oct. 8, 2021 from 4-7 at the Church and Allen Funeral Home Montville. A Mass of Christian Burial will be Saturday Oct. 9, 2021 at 10:00 am at Sts. Peter and Paul Church Norwich. Burial will follow in St. Patrick's Cemetery Uncasville.
In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to the Christopher Potvin Scholarship Fund 94 Driscoll Dr. Uncasville Ct. 06382
Tiesha wrote a poem after finding out about her fathers passing.
I never had the chance to say goodbye.
I knew i was the apple of your eye.
Too much alike, both stubborn and strong.
You were my hero my whole life long.
To many words unsaid, but so much love.
Now you will watch me from the heavens above.
Our lives were changed when we lost Chris,
And you spent your whole life in memory of his.
You dedicated your time honoring his name,
when all you wanted was one more game.
We lost you late on National Son's Day.
You wouldn't have done it in any different way.
I smile through the tears knowing you are together again,
and watching from above when all your teams win
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