Odra Potter Rosenbeck passed away on August 31, 2012, at her home in Shreveport, Louisiana. She had her family at her side when she went home to the Lord.
Odra Potter was born April 7, 1917 in Wise County, Virginia, to Sherman and Pearl Hillman Potter. She graduated from Coeburn High School in 1939.
She served in the Army Nurse Corps, 2nd Lieutenant, graduated from the University Of Virginia School Of Nursing, Charlottesville, VA, 1943. Odra enlisted in the Army Student Reserves during her senior year. After graduation in 1943 Odra was appointed to Army Nurse Corps, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, also stationed at Fort Eustis, VA, and Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. She was assigned to the 93rd General Hospital, which left the states in December of 1943 and was stationed in England, near Birmingham.
After leaving the Army Nurse Corps in 1945, accepted a position with the Veterans Administration Medical Center at Dayton, Ohio. Using the G.I. Bill, obtained a B.S. Degree in Nursing Education for the University of Dayton. She retired from the VA, May 1979, after 35 years of service.
Odra was married to Ernest Rosenbeck from Dayton, Ohio, where they lived for 30 years. Ernest has been deceased since 1978. Also preceding her in death is her father, John Sherman Potter; mother, Pearl Hillman Potter; sister, Eula Potter Cress; and brother, Layman Joyce Potter.
Her surviving children and spouses are Mary Rosenbeck Addi-Layton and Bob, Donald Rosenbeck and Janice, Judy Kay Rosenbeck See and Jack and Ernest Fredrick Rosenbeck. She has eight grand-children, Richard and Daniel Addi, Mark and David See, Shane and Jason Rosenbeck, Brandy Rosenbeck and Hannah Rosenbeck; and nine great-grand-children, Shannon and Berkley Addi, Nathan and Matthew See, Sherman Addi, Jadon and Marin See, and Sahriah and Branden Rosenbeck. Her brother, Joel Potter, lives in Dandridge, TN. She has many nieces and nephews that she loved very much. She also had one best friend, Joe Campbell, Dayton, Ohio.
During the thirties and early forties, the Potter family was well known in Wise County. Father Sherman worked as a policeman in Banner for the Robert Fleming Coal Company and was a town policemen in Coeburn. He served two terms as Sheriff of Wise County. The family was musicians; they played on the WOPI radio station in Bristol and were known as “The Potter Family.â€
The family would like to thank Dr. David Henry of “Hospice of Louisiana,†Shreveport. A special thank you to Nurse Julie and Chaplain Casey for their love and dedication, you are truly doing God’s work.
The funeral service for Mrs. Rosenbeck will be conducted at 7:00 P.M. Friday, September 7, 2012, in the East Chapel of Appalachian Funeral Home.
The family will receive friends Friday from 5:00 until 7:00 P.M. in the East Parlor of the funeral home.
The graveside service and interment will be conducted at 12:00 P.M. Saturday, September 8, from Happy Valley Memorial Park, Elizabethton.
Memories and condolences may be left for the family at www.appfh.net.
Appalachian Funeral Home and Cremation Service, 800 E. Watauga Ave., Johnson City, is serving the Rosenbeck family. (423) 928-6111
