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IDA FULLER
POTTER
‘JOURNEY TO HEAVEN’
 A little gift from God
arrived on June 27th, 1912.
Green and Leona Fuller received it with joy, no doubt. Thus began the
journey of our beloved Mother, Grandmother, Great-grandmother, great-great
grandmother and spiritual leader. This is where the winding, bumpy path to her
heavenly reward began. The journey was fraught with ‘chug-holes’, and often as
steep as the Kentucky mountains that surrounded her. Little did she know that
one day she would be responsible for 10 of Kentucky’s
best. Four of them came from Creed Potter’s previous marriage.
Fred,
Dan,
Ralph,
and
Archie were somewhat of a handful along with Ida’s little blessing,
Billie.
In time,
Clark,
Marty,
David,
Annette,
and
Carlene were born and the family grew to include ten children.
Most of us who remain
remember some of the early hard times. We didn’t often consider them hard
times, though, and they were always sprinkled with love. In the early years
there were the inevitable little gardens. Mom canned everything know to man and
some that weren’t. Our chicken dinners often started ‘on the hoof’ so to
speak. We sometimes gathered greens and things that grew wild. Most of the
time, we had food. It wasn’t always what we wanted, but almost always what we
needed. When you had a good crop of potatoes, you had to dig a hole below the
frost line, line it with hay or straw, and cover the potatoes back up. Then you
dug up only what you needed. That kept them from freezing and also kept them
relatively fresh. There were some times when our basic food staples came from
the ‘commodities’ as they called them back then.
In Kentucky, the heat
and fires for cooking came from burning coal. I know some of us remember
chopping kindling and bringing in the coal for the fires. That was not exactly
anyone’s favorite job. You had to be careful that Mom didn’t hear what you had
to say when it was freezing outside and you had to get in the bucket of coal and
build the fire in the cook stove.
I know some of you
remember watching (and sometimes helping) when mom washed clothes on the scrub
board in the old galvanized wash-tub. Then, rain or shine, hot or extremely
cold, we hung out the laundry on a clothesline to dry. Some of them had to be
hung indoors for privacy or to make sure they dried in time for wearing the next
day. I remember how happy she was when she got her first wringer-type washing
machine.
These are just some of
the things that were done by or under the direct supervision of Mother.
Fortunately for Mother, not all of the kids were at home at the same time. My
dad’s oldest son was 16 years old when Mom took charge. Can you imagine what it
would be like to do all the things mentioned before and still having to see that
the young ones had their baths in the old galvanized tub? All this washing and
no water heater! All the hot water came from the cook stove all year round.
All these things
describe a beleaguered, hard working mother of 10, but, all this effort still
does not define our mother. Not one of her children would call Ida Potter a
perfect woman. There is one thing that did define her. Her love of and
enthusiasm for the things of God would ultimately impact the lives of many of us
kids. Who could ever forget her constant reminders to us of the Word of God and
the effect of the Word on our lives? Her love of bluegrass music and ability to
play her guitar and sing the ballads was a magnetic force that kept us coming
back for more. At least one song she wrote is still blessing us today. The
memory of the times we shared in that music will last for a lifetime.
“The effectual, fervent
prayer of a righteous man or woman avails much. That is one thing our mother
did often and effectively…pray! Talking to God became a way of life for Ida and
a means to helping bring many of her children to the saving grace of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you, Mom.
The homecoming must have been awesome
for Mother! Finally getting to meet the Lord and saying hello again to all the
ones that got there ahead of her must have been a truly joyous occasion! I can
only imagine what it must be like to get re-acquainted with her own mother, dad,
brothers, sisters, and, of course, our father, Marty, Trent, Vera, Ralph, Fred,
and all her loved ones too numerous to mention. Won’t that be a wonderful
family reunion? We have these certain promises from God.
 Prepared
and Read
For Mom's Memorial
By David Potter, Son
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