William Lawrence Pottenger

William Lawrence (Larry) Pottenger, 93, passed away September 20, 2010, in St. Vincent’s Hospital, Indianapolis. He was born December 21, 1916, in Kankakee, Illinois, to Lloyd A. and Lola Graves Pottenger. The family moved to Indianapolis when he was five years old. Larry was graduated from Washington High School in Indianapolis and from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, majoring in horticulture. He was a member of the first class of landscape architects at the university, and traveled to Taliesen near Spring Green, Wisconsin, where Frank Lloyd Wright was his instructor. During his career as a landscape architect for the Pottenger Nursery and Landscape Co. in Indianapolis, he designed and supervised the landscaping of countless homes and buildings around the city, including the landscaping of the Indianapolis Zoo and the Monument Circle Tree Planting and Beautification in 1960. He also designed many award-winning exhibit gardens for the Indianapolis Flower and Patio Show. He was a member and president of the Northside Optimist Club and the Pike Township Lions Club, and was a member of the Masonic Lodge and the Shrine, as well as the Indianapolis Landscape Association. Larry was a kind and patient father and grandfather, and always managed to visit his grown children on holidays, or host them at Christmas. Larry and Ellen loved traveling and camped in many of our beautiful western National Parks, and even camped in Alaska. They later visited their exchange student Renato Taiana in Lake Como, Italy, and “Renny”’s son Filippo became an exchange student in the home of Larry’s daughter Judy. Larry was predeceased by brothers Lester Graves and Richard Lloyd, and by sisters Doris Chapman and Miriam Shasteen. He is survived by his wife Ellen Glenn Pottenger, with whom he celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary in August; brother Lloyd A. Jr. and wife Nancy; sister-in-law Marjorie Pottenger; daughters Suzy Foster and husband David of Boulder Jct., Wisconsin, Judy Rysdon and husband Roy of Cary, North Carolina, and son Lawrence G. Pottenger and wife Amy of Pocatello, Idaho; and nine grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren. A memorial service is planned for 2 PM October 18 at the First Congregational Church of Indianapolis, followed by a reception in the Fellowship Hall. For more information please contact Flanner and Buchanan Funeral Center.