Lila Mae Saville Potter, 84, died Wednesday, June 3, at her home in Warrensburg, Missouri.

Lila was born on June 8, 1930, in Decatur, Illinois, to Joseph and Agnes Saville. She spent her childhood in Decatur and later moved to Hollywood, Florida, as a teenager. While working in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, she met and married Arthur William “Bill” Potter IV on Nov. 26, 1952.

Lila was an accomplished secretary, working for a law firm and banks and then for her husband throughout his career in insurance. She and her husband enjoyed traveling extensively both in the United States and abroad.

Lila loved to paint and sew, which she taught herself to do. She served her churches, First Baptist Church of Jefferson City and First United Methodist Church of Warrensburg and volunteered at Teachers’ Warehouse for over 600 hours. In 2009, she was honored with the Teachers’ Warehouse Volunteer of the Year Award. She also enjoyed visits from the student volunteers in the Magic Me Program at Warrensburg Middle School. She was a member of P.E.O., Chapter HW.

 

In 2013, Lila was voted Ms. Country Club Care Center and went on to compete in the Ms. Nursing Home Pageant in Kansas City. At the time she said, “Throughout my life, I’ve lived in 24 homes in 14 different towns, in three states, and traveled worldwide. Looking back, I realized that having a positive attitude and the ability to find something good in every situation has served me well and can be summed up by this defining phrase: Bloom where you are planted.”

Lila was preceded in death by her husband of 54 years. She is survived by her daughter, Cathy Abney, and husband, Steve, of Warrensburg; her daughter, Nancy LeMay, and husband, Mike, of Green Bay, Wisconsin; four grandchildren, Marshall Abney and wife, Jessie, of Warrensburg; Chelsea Abney Johnson and husband, Jake, of Mission, Kansas; Matt LeMay, of Green Bay, Wisconsin; and Andrea LeMay Lauciello and husband, John, of Denver, Colorado; and two great-grandchildren, Collins and Harper Abney.

A celebration of Lila’s life will be held at the First United Methodist Church in Warrensburg at 11 a.m. Monday, June 8, with a reception to follow in the Family Life Center.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials to Teachers’ Warehouse, the Warrensburg Schools Foundation for the Magic Me Program, and the First United Methodist Church, and can be left in care of Sweeney-Phillips and Holdren Funeral Home in Warrensburg.