Leonard Potts

View Video TributeView Funeral Webcast Wilburn Leonard Potts, 99, well-known owner-operator of Potts Garage and Grocery and resident of the Santa Fe Community, died Saturday, September 1, 2012 at his residence on New Highway 7. Funeral services will be conducted Monday at 11:00 a.m. at Oakes & Nichols with Brother Jack Taylor and Brother Don Emmitte officiating. Burial will follow in Santa Fe Cemetery. The family will visit with friends Sunday from 1:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the funeral home. The family suggests memorials to Santa Fe Cemetery Association, c/o Norman Harris, 3929 Sowell Hollow Road, Columbia 38401. Notes of sympathy may be extended at oakesandnichols.com. Born and reared in the Kinderhook Community near Natchez Trace in Maury County, he was the son of the late Wilburn Henry Potts and Lois Layne Potts. In 1931, while living on the Nashville Highway, then known as Jackson Highway, he married the former Robbie Allen Gunnells, daughter of the late Robert Gunnells and Louise Winchester Gunnells of Spring Hill. As a young man, he worked for Oakes Chair Company and was a self-employed painter. He and his wife's uncle, Edward Winchester, painted Haynes Haven and surrounding buildings. In the mid 1930s, he was the proud owner of a Model T Ford and 1931 Coupe and was working as a mechanic at Columbia's oldest garage, "The Roll On Garage," which opened in 1923. An expert mechanic and welder, in 1938 he opened Potts' Garage at Santa Fe in an old building between Bernard Dodson's Grocery and Ernest Hawkins' Grist Mill. In 1939, he moved his family to the Santa Fe Community. Here he repaired and maintained the Augie and Virgil Dodson fleet of milk trucks; repaired Maury County Highway Department trucks; and cars, trucks, tractors, and all other types of equipment for those in the community. He also operated a wrecker service. From this same location, Mr. Potts conducted a school and taught mechanic and welding classes for World War II Veterans on the GI Bill. In 1949, he built a new garage and service station on land purchased in 1945. Mr. Potts and his wife retired in 1974 and the business remains under the ownership and operation of his family in the same location after seventy-four, plus years. After his retirement, Mr. Potts drove a school bus for eleven years until the age of seventy and also retired after ten years of service from the Maury County Convenience Center. In recognition of the high regard and esteem in which he was held by members of the community for many years, the bridge nearest his business was named in his honor. Mr. Potts was a member of Johnson's Chapel Baptist Church for many years. His wife, Robbie Allen Gunnells Potts, died December 8, 1992. A devoted father and grandfather, he is survived by his children, Wilburn (Colleen) Potts, R. L. (Esther) Potts, Dean (Catherine) Potts, Billy (Brenda) Potts, Ray (Edna) Potts, Linda Potts, and Danny (Virginia) Potts; daughter-in-law, Omie Potts; grandchildren, Barry (Regina) Potts, Jerry (Tonjia) Potts, Terry (Donna) Potts, Nancy (Benny) Ayers, Janet (Jerry) Hubbell, Jackie (Mark) Johnson, Dannette (Bryan) George, Joey (Dianna) Potts, Jason (Melissa) Potts, Kerrie (Bucky) Rowland; twenty-two great-grandchildren; several nieces and nephews; eight great-great-grandchildren; and special friend, Thelma Dial. He was preceded in death by his son, Larry Potts; sisters, Flossie Irene Potts and Mary Potts; brothers, Tommy Potts, Robert Potts, Ernest Potts, Ellis Clarence Potts, Curtis Potts, Grover Eugene Potts, and James Henry Potts. Active pallbearers are Jerry Potts, Barry Potts, Terry Potts, Joey Potts, Jason Potts, Bucky Roland, Jerry Hubbell, Benny Ayers, Bryan George, and Mark Johnson. Honorary guests include Katie Duncan, Jack Willis, James McElhaney, Sherry Borne, Debbie James and friends of Potts' Garage and Grocery. The family extends special thanks to Dr. Gaylon Harris, Dr. Cary Pulliam, Maury Home Health, and Hospice Compassus for their care and concern during his illness.