Donald Potts

TSGT DONALD RAY POTTS TSGT Donald Ray Potts, U. S. Air Force (ret), 60, resident of Dalya Lane, died August 27, 2003 at Maury Regional Hospital. Funeral services will be conducted Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. at Oakes & Nichols with Rev. Jim Collins officiating. Burial will be in the Polk Memorial Gardens with military honors provided by Herbert Griffin American Legion Post #19. Notes of sympathy may be sent to the family at oakesandnichols.com. Born in Davidson County, he was the son of the late Thomas Madden Potts and Clara Bell Culwell Potts and lived most of his early life in Columbia. He was a 1961 graduate of Columbia Central High School and was a member of the Football Team from 1959 to 1961. He entered the U. S. Air Force in 1967, served in Vietnam and retired September 1, 1989 with the rank of TSGT. Upon returning to Columbia to make his home, he was associated with Tennessee Adjustment Bureau and Solutia Corporation. He was a member of VFW Post #4969, Herbert Griffin American Legion Post #19 and the Columbia Elks Club. Survivors include two sons, Mark Burkhardt and Robin Burkhardt, both of Virginia; a sister, Mrs. Irene Morris of Columbia; a brother, Major General William E. "Billy" Potts, U. S. Army (ret) of Alexandria, Virginia; two grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by a sister, Patsy Potts Knapp and two brothers, Robert Howard "Bobby" Potts and Sgt. Major Thomas Eugene Potts, U. S. Army (ret). Active pallbearers are Jimmy Bassham, Neel Frakes, Freddie Fitzgerald, Michael Morris, Gary Morris and Clark Bennett. Honorary pallbearers include members of the Columbia Elks Club, Herbert Griffin American Legion Post #19, the Men's Shop and the Central High School Class of 1961.