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   Obituary - Alan Potter

  

Alan Potter

Nickname: "Pansy"
Staff member
Years: 1950s & 60s

  • On 17th Aug 2005, Webmaster received an e-mail from John Lenton (Hawke 1959-1964)

    Dear Steve

    I thought you would want to know that Alan Potter, affectionately remembered as "Pansy" Potter by many OC's, died on Monday, 15th August, after a long battle with leukaemia, which he bore with great cheerfulness and courage.

    Alan taught French, German and Spanish in the 50s and 60s, joining the Prince of Wales School in the last years of PF. He was Assistant Housemaster in Hawke and Housemaster of Grigg for a number of years. He was a fine tennis and squash player, and continued to play tennis right up until a few months ago. Despite his nickname, he was no cissy! He led teams of boys up Kilimanjaro on a number of occasions (I remember the one I went on, which included all of his VIth Form German class; we started out at the Outward Bound School at Loitokitok, where friends of Alan's were running the School. Alan fired the guide on the third day, when we had reached the Saddle, and led us up the mountain himself, spending the night in the caves just below the scree and then setting off in the freezing pre-dawn, and getting us all up to Gilmans Point in time for the sunrise.)

    I can say from personal experience that he was a brilliant languages teacher, eccentric (which made us laugh a lot) but tough and demanding of very high standards because he reached them himself. I still remember in my very first year being put on "Satis" by him when I had an average mark of somewhere over 70% because he said I could do better. He was, of course, absolutely right and I never coasted with him again. I still attribute my Mod Lang degree at Oxford to his teaching.

    His friends will miss him a lot, as will his son (Sean) and daughter (Kay) and grandchildren. He faced death with a strong Christian faith, and his passing was very peaceful.

    Yours

    John Lenton

    Funeral Notice:
    Alan's funeral will take place on Wednesday, 24th August 2005 at 10.30 am at the Porchester Crematorium, just north of Portsmouth, England.