Leona Belle Stanley (Thompson) Potter, age 85, went home to be with her Savior on Saturday, March 25, 2017. She passed away in Lynden, surrounded by her beloved family.
From her birth in Lead, South Dakota, on Dec. 10, 1931 to her death, Leona nourished people around her with her love and faith in Jesus Christ. After giving her heart to the Lord at the age of 8, she wanted to be in service of God from then on. She saw every place she went as an opportunity to witness of Jesus’ love, and the world was her mission field. At 18 she met a handsome Navy man named William (J.P.) Thompson, fell in love, and they were married in 1950. She, along with her husband J.P., spent their years committed to the Lord’s calling on their lives to bring his salvation to the deaf — first in Jamaica at the Caribbean Christian Center for the Deaf and again in Puerto Rico with the Evangelical School for the Deaf. After years of service in the Caribbean, they came home to Portland, Oregon, to extend their ministry and raise their three children. Leona continued to help her husband in ministry with a deaf church in Portland as well as the American Sunday Union Church in Estacada, Oregon. She also taught Bible classes to 7th and 8th graders at Portland Christian School during that time. Unexpectedly in 1991, the Lord led them to Grace Baptist church in Lynden. They finished out their years of ministry together in 2004, when her husband of 54 years passed away. Leona remarried in 2005 to her best friend Jerry Potter, whom she had met at age 16 at a Teens for Christ rally, and both remained lovingly devoted to one another until her passing.
Leona was preceded in death by her husband William (J.P.) Thompson; parents Leland and Sylvia Stanley; sister Darlene McCaw and brother Charles Stanley.
She is survived by her husband Jerry Potter; brother Lyman Stanley; her loving children, son Keith Thompson (Sheryl), son David Thompson and daughter Jeri Martinsen (Duane); as well as her beloved eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
Leona’s desire all of her life was to lead others to Christ and she accomplished that many times over. Her desire to win people to Christ was rivaled only by the depth of her love for her family. She will be fiercely missed by all who knew her, but we know she is rejoicing with her Lord and with all who have gone before her.
A memorial service is scheduled for April 8 at 1 p.m. in Grace Baptist Fellowship, Lynden.
You are invited to sign the online guest book at www.gilliesfuneralhome.com.
Arrangements are entrusted to Gillies Funeral Home and Cremation Services of Lynden.
