Oiler First Class John Allen Potts
United States Coast Guard – World War I
Coast Guard Cutter Comanche
August 25, 2022 - John Allen was the oldest child of six born to Lou Allen Sinclair and William C. Potts. His birth took place on Friday, November 11, 1887 in the far east Texas town of Center that serves as the county seat of Shelby. His siblings were Beulah (1892), Frank (1899), Buron (1903), Fleta (1909) and Sarah (1912). Little is known of his childhood and life until the 1910 census that listed him living in a boarding house on second street in Center at age twenty-two working as a dry goods salesman.(1)
On April 6, 1917, the United States entered the World War that had been raging in Europe since 1914 and the selective service act of that year required all men between the ages of 21 and 30 to register for the military draft. At age 29, John did not wait to be drafted but joined the US coast Guard at the recruiting station in Galveston, Texas on May 12. Following basic training he was assigned to the Coast Guard Cutter “Comanche” that had been brought back into service in January 1916 and patrolled the gulf coast. The war ended on November 11, 1918, John’s thirty-first birthday and he was honorably discharged in New York, N.Y on May 11, 1919 with the rating of Oiler First Class.(2)
Following the war he returned to the family farm in Shelby County that his parents still worked and sadly his youngest sibling Sarah died five months following his discharge. John now age fifty-one married fifty-nine year old Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” O’Banion Cook on his birthday and the twenty-first observance of Armistice Day. Lizzie brought a daughter Iris Tribble and a son Robert Tribble to the family as she had been married twice previously with both husbands passing at a relatively early age.(3) They were married in Shelby County and made their home in Choice where John became a grocery store proprietor and Lizzie was employed as the Postmaster.(4)
On April 27, 1942 John was required to register for the military draft and although not called to serve at the age of 54, he would see two world wars begin and end in his lifetime. He developed heart disease and was admitted to the Veterans Administration Hospital in Houston where he died 46 days later on June 11, 1958 at the age of 70.(5) The Shreveport Journal newspaper, June 13 reported that “Funeral services were held at Mangum Funeral Home Chapel in Center with the Rev. Roy Foutz and the Rev. J. C. Chadwick officiating. Burial followed in Oaklawn Memorial Park, Center. Survivors were his widow; one son, Bob Tribble; three brothers, Jebb, Bib and Frank Potts; three sisters, Mrs. Allan Thomason, Mrs. Marvin Buckner and Mrs. G. E. Boles”. His wife Elizabeth would join him at Oaklawn in 1962. Day is done, God is nigh.
Sources:
(1): Year: 1910; Census Place: Center, Shelby, Texas; Roll: T624_1588; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 0146; FHL microfilm: 1375601
(2): "Texas, World War I Records, 1917-1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-996V-JSVM?cc=2202707&wc=3345-7M9%3A1560656202%2C1560656601 : 26 March 2015), Navy, enlisted men > Pierce, Gordon Louis-Skrivanek, Norbert Robert, 1917-1920 > image 213 of 2196; Texas Military Forces Museum, Austin.
(3): Johnson County Clerk's Office; Denton, Texas; Smith County Marriage Records
(4): Year: 1940; Census Place: Shelby, Texas; Roll: m-t0627-04136; Page: 14B; Enumeration District: 210-8
(5): Texas Department of State Health Services; Austin Texas, USA
