Glenda passed away peacefully in her sleep in the early morning of Wednesday, May 1st, in Portland, Oregon. She left behind a big life full of family and friends. She gathered friends like a sponge soaks up water and in most cases those friendships lasted her lifetime.
Glenda was the daughter of Glenn and Elizabeth Isom and was born on a small farm called the Weber Place that still stands today just outside Brownsville, Oregon. She loved the farm life and tagging along with her father in her tomboy days. She made friends in grade school she never lost track of. Her mother, Lib, taught her the love of flowers, laughter, and song. She inherited her father’s love for children, animals and especially horses. There was always music in the farm house and Glenda learned to play the piano and played saxophone in the Brownsville High School marching band.
Glenda started a family at a young age. She had four children. Jeffrey, Debbie, Gregory and Terry Sue with her first husband, John Fox. Jeffrey only lived a few days before a heart ailment took his short life.
In 1959, Glenda took her three remaining children and moved to Eugene. It was not easy caring for three children and working full-time at a record store but she did the best she could and the children never felt anything less than the full force of her love. Life in the little house on West Broadway Street saw Glenda go from the record store to working in an X-ray clinic to eventually finding her career in the title and escrow industry. She developed a love for cars from that time on and owned sporty (turquoise MGA) to behemoth (Pink Cadillac convertible).
She built her own house in northwest Eugene in the mid 60’s and met the man of her dreams in 1967. Dale Pottorf and Glenda were married in August of 1967 and were inseparable until his passing in 2005. She embraced Dale’s three children, Bruce, Ron and Sheri, as her own and developed a love of the outdoors and especially Triangle Lake that meant so much to Dale and her both.
They moved back to the country in 1970 to a ranch on Spencer Creek Road. There she realized her dream of owning Arabian horses. Not only own them but put in the effort and investment in showing the horses here in the states and in Canada. The horses were more than just a hobby to her. In fact, all her hobbies and projects (too numerous to list) were embraced with Glenda’s best qualities, passion, and enthusiasm.
In 1979 she and Dale bought a property that would become ‘Glendale Resort’ and developed it into a showcase spot to entertain everyone. Not just her family and extended family but a whole network of friends through her work in escrow and all walks of life. Many of her clients became lifelong friends. She was a magnet.
Glenda had a natural eye for home design both indoors and out. Her homes and her gardens were always a place that others loved to visit. And visit they did. Weddings, birthdays, holidays even bachelor parties were hosted at their home.
The Glendale years coincided with the evolution to Grandma Glenda. She spread her energetic enthusiasm to another generation of babies and children. Like a fish to water Glenda was a natural with her own 11 grandchildren and the children and grandchildren of everyone she met. Her own nature of child-like wonder was shared with several generations.
The Glendale era ended with her and Dale moving first to a gated community in Eugene and then back to the shores of Triangle Lake, Oregon for Dale’s last few years. He passed away in 2005.
As life slowed down and she became a widow she still had great energy. The projects were less grand in scope but still made with that Glenda positivity and excitement. Her many friends stayed in touch and those friendships ended up being one of her greatest assets in old age.
Her last five months after moving to Portland were difficult at times, but she had moments of great laughter and joy as well. She watched the Ducks win a bowl game, enjoyed the girls and boys college basketball team’s playoff runs and loved looking at pictures and videos of 11 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren. She never lost her love of chocolate or sushi and received many visitors and watched spring bloom in her neighborhood one final time.
Glenda lived a multi-layered life full of animals, music, food, travel, children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Not just her own but her extended family of life long friends. She cultivated loving relationships her whole life. No one who ever met her forgot her and because of that she will live on through our happy memories of her.
Glenda is survived by her 3 children Debbie (Ed), Gregory, Terry Sue, her 3 stepchildren Bruce (Dede), Ron (Debbie), Sheri (Bill), her 11 grandchildren Matt (Falin), Adrienne (Ryan), Mark (Censia), Kristi, Ben (Shandell), Tracy (Earl), Lindsey (Colin), Liz (Jake), Drew, David, and Ian (Shelly), and her 18 great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband Dale Pottorf, sisters, Virginia Falk, Rosemary Piper, brother Douglas Isom and granddaughter Suzanne Kidder.
Glenda had a lot of love to give and gave it to her last breath.
Contributions can be made in her honor to Oregon Public Broadcasting:
https://www.opb.org/support/membership/give/
Please visit Glenda's picture gallery here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/PSeSuehUNM2nvQYx6
A Celebration of Life gathering will be held in Eugene on Saturday, June 29th.
DONATIONS
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18