Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Potts, Jack
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
Unknown
History
Jack & Dorothy Potts came to Grande Prairie c. 1942, as part of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals. This corps ran a wireless station in the town during the Second World War, from about 1942-1947. The Station Site was on the corner of 93 St. and Richmond Avenue, then quite a ways out of the town, and Jack Potts was the Sgt. Major, Warrant Officer I. The population of Grande Prairie in 1942 was approximately 3000, so the Signal Corps, with their wives and their children, were a significant addition. Also, some of the men married girls from the area and a number of "Signal Corps" children were born in Grande Prairie, including the two oldest girls in the Potts family. The Potts' first home was an apartment above the beauty parlour, which was one of the few places with running water and plumbing. When the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals station in Grande Prairie closed in 1947, Jack & Dorothy Potts were transferred. The building was subsequently sold to the Salvation Army for $1.00, to be used as a home to care for aged Veterans.