Meredith Rosalie Martin Potterfield

Meredith Martin Potterfield (age 85) passed away peacefully on September 2, 2023 at her home in Ortega after a long illness. She was surrounded by loving family and is now surrounded by her many loving relatives who made that journey before her.

Our world received a special gift on March 19, 1938 with the birth of Meredith Rosalie Martin to her parents Gwen and Elliot Martin, natives of Jacksonville Florida. Her life began in the beautiful Arden/Avondale neighborhood of Jacksonville and her heart was never far from the beautiful moss laden oaks of 1757 Glendale Street.

Meredith was close to and extremely proud of her older brother Frank Powell Martin. Frank was a dedicated student at The Bolles School and pursued advanced nuclear engineering degrees at Georgia Tech and Cal Tech. Frank become a senior naval officer and worked at Sandia National Laboratories after retiring from the Navy. He also served as a United States Security Supervisor for the 1980s SALT Treaty with the Soviet Union during the wind down of the Cold War.  During their lives, Meredith and Frank were often separated by many timezones but remained close until his passing in 2006.

Meredith and Frank both attended Fishweir Elementary School where Frank and his boyhood friend Tyler Potterfield were members of the school’s "Boy Patrol".  Family lore tells us that the seeds of Tyler and Meredith’s love story were planted as Tyler helped Meredith cross the road safely twice a day in 1946. This began a great love, still alive thru their 65 years of marriage.

Meredith attended Lake Shore Middle School, and Lee High School. She was an active member of the IDS Sorority and was voted “Miss Smile" during her junior year at Lee where she graduated in 1956. She attended Florida State University where she studied art, joined the Chi Omega sorority and was voted to join the welcoming committee for visiting dignitaries who attended important University events. Tyler and Meredith reconnected during this time as he was in Naval Training School with her brother Frank in Pensacola. Love bloomed and Meredith and Tyler were engaged in November 1957 and married the following July at the Riverside Baptist Church.

Meredith was a loving and devoted mother and homemaker as Tyler pursued a 60 year business career. Meredith had a boundless cheerful energy and she generously shared her talents and abilities in community activities. She served as a trustee of The Bartram School for Girls, in the The Junior League of Jacksonville, as the President of the Chi Omega Alumni Association and was active in Women's Group of the Riverside Presbyterian Church. In 1981 Meredith was the producer, score writer, and director of a community extravaganza production at the Jacksonville Coliseum. The production entitled “A Jester's Madrigal” involved some 800 actors, musicians and technicians and according to most commentators achieved the highest score in creative entertainment for the time.

Most of all, she loved spending time with her family. She long outlived her doting parents, Marion Elliott and Gwendolyn Powell Martin; her Grandparents, Wiley and Una Barlow Powell, her Great Aunt Mary Grace Barlow; her Aunt Rosalie Powell Leaird and her most beloved cousins Vickie Leaird and Linda Leaird Ittner but through her loving memories, they were kept alive for us.

Meredith loved meeting new people and had a great talent for putting people at ease. She was a loving and loyal friend who maintained deep and caring friendships throughout her life. She was a tireless and graceful dancer. She loved books, music and art. She was a voracious reader, and a constant nurturer to a house full of children, dogs, cats, rescued baby birds, squirrels and let's not forget the turtles, the horses and the goat. Meredith's greatest joys were her children and grandchildren with whom she maintained close relationships with a genuine enthusiasm and natural ease.

She will be greatly missed and remembered with the dearest love and devotion. Meredith is survived by her husband, Tyler Potterfield; her children, Elizabeth Martin (Betsy) Potterfield and Victoria Potterfield Branning (David); her grandchildren, Owen Tyler Branning and James Howell Branning. She is predeceased by her son, Tyler Potterfield Jr.

Services for Meredith will be held later this month in a private ceremony. Her permanent gravesite location will be at Oaklawn cemetery on San Jose Blvd, Jacksonville. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to Community Hospice & Palliative Care, 4266 Sunbeam Road, Jacksonville, Florida 32257.

The family wishes to recognize the caring effort of Quaneisha Fleming of JMAC Enterprise for her unwavering support in the final chapter of Meredith's life.