Critograph Staff ~ 2018-2019
The Critograph staff would like to thank Dr. Clifton W. Potter Jr. for his sixty years of service to the campus and our newspaper. We appreciate your Lynchburg College/University of Lynchburg history column and all of the memories that you have shared of the college/university.
Every Sunday, the staff looks forward to reading your opinion piece and the memories that you have shared over the years make us feel closer to the legacy of the institution. You will forever be a part of our newsroom family.
You are the definition of a Lynchburg College legend.
Dr. Potter stated in Issue 21 of the paper from the 2018-2019 school year, “While I am writing this column, I am thinking of all those persons who have enriched my life over the last sixty years. So many of them are gone now—professors, classmates, and students—I miss each one of them, but the lessons they taught me and the priceless gifts they gave me remain.”
Potter received his Bachelors of Arts in History at Lynchburg College in 1962. In 1964, Potter received his Masters of Arts in History at the University of Virginia and in 1970, received his PhD in History at the University of Virginia.
Since 1965, Potter has been a professor of history at the university and currently serves as the College Marshal.
Over the years, Potter has held many positions at the university and has received several awards during his tenure. He has served as chair for the Division of Social Science is 1982-1990 and as the Department Chair of History from 1990-1996. Potter is also the adviser of Omicron Delta Kappa.
Some of the awards that he has received include: Sears-Roebuck Foundation Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership Award, T. Gibson Hobbs Award, University of Lynchburg Alumni Association, Shirley E. Rosser Award for Teaching Excellence, Elsie Ervin Bock Award for Excellence in Citizenship, Thomas C. Allen Award for Excellence in Advising, and T.A. Abbott Award for Faculty Excellence.
Potter also serves as the President of the Board of Historic Sandusky, a member of the board of the Friends of New London. He is the Chair of the Eagle Board, Piedmont District, Boy Scouts of America.
Potter likes restoration, preservation, cooking, traveling, fitness, and gardening. He is married to his college sweetheart, Dorothy-Bundy. During their marriage,they not only share a house but also an office. Potter has taught since 1965 and his wife has been a member of the history department faculty since 1984.
He has made an indelible impact on the thousands of student he has taught over the years.
“He absolutely loves Charles II,” said Genevieve Griffin, a former student of Dr. Potter. “The reason that he likes him so much is because he would have a laboratory in his castle and he would do crazy experiment. And he also wanted all of London to be connected by gardens and parks after the Great Fire of 1666.”
“He really liked going to Oxford and being a student there,” continued Griffin.
In Issue 6 of the Critograph this year, Dr. Potter said, “My career in collegiate
journalism began in September 1958, but by the time I graduated in 1962, I had worked
on all the Lynchburg College publications, edited The Prism, and was President of The
Board of Publications.”
Jacquan Hargraves remembered, “After the papers were distributed, he would always have one on his desk at the beginning of class.”
Potter also stated in Issue 21 of The Critograph, “When this column is published, barely one hundred days will remain before the ties that bound me to this special place will be severed and I shall pass into history, a faded picture in an old yearbook, or one of many names on a long-forgotten list. This does not trouble me because this is the essence of life, or to quote a line from of my favorite songs from 1934, For All We Know, We come and go like a ripple on a stream.”
We are very thankful for the time you have invested in The Critograph, we will miss you, your words and your wisdom.
Happy retirement!
