The Shadow
Miss Virginia – Susan Parker Potter, a former resident of Alleghany County, died Friday after a 10-year battle with breast cancer. Potter, who was crowned Miss Virginia in 1984, will also be remembered locally for her musical abilities and active community involvement.
Miss Virginia – Susan Parker Potter, a former resident of Alleghany County, died Friday after a 10-year battle with breast cancer. Potter, who was crowned Miss Virginia in 1984, will also be remembered locally for her musical abilities and active community involvement.
CROWNED — Susan Parker Potter receives her crown at the 1984 Miss Virginia Contest. Potter would go on to compete in the Miss America contest, where she would win the Talent Competition. Potter, who died Friday, became a fixture in the Alleghany Highlands community. (Virginian Review File Photo)
CROWNED — Susan Parker Potter receives her crown at the 1984 Miss Virginia Contest. Potter would go on to compete in the Miss America contest, where she would win the Talent Competition. Potter, who died Friday, became a fixture in the Alleghany Highlands community. (Virginian Review File Photo)
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By Tammy Scruggs-Duncan
The Alleghany Highlands is mourning the loss of one of the community’s favorite daughters.
Susan Parker Potter died Friday, May 31, 2013, at Lewis Gale Medical Center after a 10-year battle with breast cancer.
Susan will be remembered locally for winning the title of Miss Virginia in 1984. However, she spent most of her life sharing her musical talent through vocal performance and church music ministry.
Her legacy will be the mark she has left by her spirit, strength and courage in her battle against cancer and her willing participation in cancer research.
She was the wife of Billy Potter and the proud mother of Kaitlyn Lacy Potter. She also has a younger sister, Rebecca Parker Hudson, who resides in Botetourt County.
Born in 1963 to Patsy and O.E. Parker, Jr., she grew up in Clearwater Park and graduated from Alleghany High School where she was a gymnast and choir member. She began her musical training as a voice and piano student of her aunt, the late Frances Parker Rupert.
After high school, Susan attended Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J., where she studied Church Music with a concentration in Voice. She performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center under the direction of conductors like Joseph Flummerfelt, Ricardo Muti, Gian Carlo Menotti and Robert Shaw.
At the age of 23, she won the title of Miss Virginia and went on to Atlantic City to compete in the Miss America pageant where she was a talent winner.
Her relationship with the Miss Virginia Association continued throughout her lifetime as she judged local, state, and national pageants and was a regular annual performer in the Miss Roanoke Valley and Miss Virginia Reviews.
In 2006, Susan was honored by the Miss Roanoke Valley Scholarship Program with their Woman of Achievement Award in recognition of her work for the Miss America Association and cancer awareness organizations.
Susan was a life-long member of McAllister Memorial Presbyterian Church where she served as director of music.
She led adult and children’s choirs and was recently named an Honorary Life Member of Presbyterian Women of America.
She shared her gift of music freely. She was a member of the Alleghany Highlands Chorale, Opera Roanoke chorus, a soloist with the Roanoke Symphony as well as numerous other ensembles. She was always willing to perform for a cause, whether it was the American Cancer Society’s Zany Follies, the Covington Junior Women’s Club’s New Minstrel Show or events such as Relay for Life. She also volunteered her time and abilities to assist with the Alleghany Heart Unit’s annual Radiothon.
A skilled and avid golfer, she also helped raise funds through participation in tournaments such as the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.
Susan served on the Alleghany Highlands Arts Council Board of Directors, the advisory committee to the Frances P. Rupert Memorial Scholarship Fund through Foundation for Roanoke Valley and helped establish the Margaret R. Baker Charitable Foundation to provide scholarships for young people.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer in the spring of 2003.
Through treatment at Southwest Virginia Cancer Center she was able to achieve remission until 2005.
After her cancer became metastatic, Susan sought treatment at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
There, she willingly volunteered to participate in cancer research to test emerging experimental treatment by participating in several clinical trials.
Her funeral will take place Tuesday at 2 p.m. at McAllister Memorial Presbyterian Church. The family will receive friends Monday evening from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. at Loving Funeral Home.
