PROFILES
Our series of profiles of our Friends continues.
Stanley potter was born in stamford,
Connecticut in 1913, one of eight chilreno His father was a capable fellow, a
skilled carpenter who built houses tor a
living, with more talent at building than
at making money. Much of Stan's childhood was spent on the water, fishing and
clamming, providing food for the family
table.
Stan graduated from high school in
1931, in the depths of the Depression.
Jobs were scarce, so Stan stayed around
home, helping out where he could. He
built his own boat that year, made the
sails and everything, and in it he went
fishing and sailing. One of his friends
had an unfortunate mental breakdown, and
Stan spent the better part of the next
year or two staying with him, travelling
to Alabama for the summer, hiking around
the lower Appalachian foothills, making
sure to avoid snakes, which were numerous, and moonshiners, who were unappreciative of strangers snooping nearby.
The friend recovered well, and he
and Stan both went to drafting ochool in
New York City. One of their instructors,
a yacht designer, employed at the
Brooklyn Navy Yard, inspired Stan, who
had always loved drawing boats. stan
decided to study Naval Architecture, and
apprenticed at a Stamford shipyard in
1936, where he worked for 9 years, on
ferry boats, racing yachts and power
boats, often putting in 60 to 70 hours a
week. One of his projects was to do all
the drawings for the design of the US
Naval Academy's Luders yawls, still in
use for training undergraduates in
sailing techniques and ship handling,
At one point he took a year off from the
seagoing world and worked for the aircraft business, designing flying boats
and a dive bomber for WW II.
Stan and Jean had known each other
from school days. After Jean graduated
from Wellesley she got a job in Brooklyn
as a children's librarian, and Stan took
night courses in New York and Stamford,
later becoming a full member of the
Society of Naval Architects and Marine
Engineers. They were married in 1940, and
lived variously in Rowayton, Bridgeport
and Stamford. Jon was born in 1941, Ann
in 1943 and David in 1952.
At tbe end of WW II stan joined tbe
firm of Sparkman' Stephens, a prestigious New York marine design firm. One
of his projects there was working on
wooden nonmagnetic minesweepers for the
lorean conflict. St~n left after 6
years, to go to the old and Well-known
Alden design company in Boston. The old
man, John Alden, was still in the back
room, sketching the schooners for which
he was so famous. The company had a
contract with the US Army to design a
210' support vessel which could be
adapted to differing uses. Stan was hired
to manage about 100 men under him. The
company, in spite of its history, was not
healthy, and there were many problems in
meating deadlines and delivery costs.
By this time Stan had many contacts
in the shipbuilding business, and he
threw his lot in with Gordon Abbott, who
had a yard in Manchester, Mass. Stan was
hired to run the yard, in charge of
quality control and work assignments.
They worked on the early versions of
fiberglass hulls, just coming into wide
usage. Stan dealt with the boat owners
mostly, and he found them a difficult lot
with whom to work, making his job a
frustrating one. Be left to go into
business with Dwight Simpson, who was
desiging a new Nantucket ferry, four
times larger than the earlier version.
The skippers were uneasy with this new
and so much larger boat, and there were
many design and handling prOblems to be
ironed out before things eventually went
smoothly. Later Stan worked with John
MaCArthur on a number of different
projects such 8S trawlers, built at South
Bristol, and research vessels, including
the new Albatross IV for the Woods Bole
Oceanographic Institute and one for Duke
University's Marine Science Research at
Beaufort, NC, as well as one designed for
work in the Antarctic, on which Stan went
on a 3 week shakedown trials cruise in
the Arctic.
Stan and Jean, their children
raised, took a vacation to visit their
dAughter, who was living in Australia
with her farmer husband. They enjoyed
their visit, and had two weeks extra,
which they decided to spend in New
zeal~nd, where they stayed at the Quaker
C O~~ ~ '" u. ~ ~ nc=,c. + pQ..~ (...
STANLEY roITER continued:'
Visitors' Cent:er. They-mlry -telt at
home there, and applied to stay. But the
socialist NZ government did not want
older residents who had not paid in their
fair share of the funds it took to care ·
for all people. The Potters were denied
permission to stay, but they did apply
for the two-year position as residents at
the Quaker Center, and were given the job
and temporary residency. They loved the
job, and had a memorable journey home in
great comfort on a containership. On
their return they found and bought the
house in Beaufort, close to Stan's job
designing the research vessel there.
stan's name was well known in
designing circles by no.w, and the offer
to design the Elizabeth II for the
Jamestown Colony came out of the blue, a
complete surprise to Stan, and a great
challenge. He researched the historical
aspects of old-time ship construction,
produced the design, and oversaw the
building project there. Many may
remember Stan's fascinating slides of
this process. From there it was an easy
jump to the job of designing subsequent
antique replicas, on which stan is still
working.
One of Stan's co-workers in the old
Stamford office was a young Quaker, Earl
Estes, who soon came to live with the
potters. Be was saving money to get
married, which he did, and he,and his'
wife Jane started stamford/Old'-Greenwich
Meeting, which had its beginnings in the
potter's living room. The Potters were
intrigued, and sat in on many discussions
with their young Friends. Earl and Jane
had two children, and not much later Earl
contracted polio, and died within a few
hours. The Potters opened their home to
Jane and her children, who stayed with
them until deciding to return to Indiana,
Jane's home. A few years later Jane
married Ralph Cook, and the circle comes
round again. The potters became Quakers
later, when they attended Lynn (Mass)
Meeting, while they lived in Andover and
Swampscott. Later they joined cambridge
Meeting, and were sojourning Friends
while they were in New Zealand.
Stan had made connections in the
midcoast area when ships of his design
were being built in South Bristol, at
Harvey Gamage's yard. Harvey owned the
point next to the potters' on Pemaquid
Lake, and it was he who told the potters
that their present cottage was for sale.
Stan and Jean made an offer on it, which
was accepted, and they have been coming
here ever since.