Foster Potter
Utica Saturday Globe, September 1919
Foster C. Potter
Norwich [Chenango Co., NY]: Foster Potter, who has so capably filled the position of city editor on the Norwich Sun, severed his relations with that paper to take up a course in Syracuse university upon the completion of which he expects to enter the Pulitzer School of Journalism and thoroughly equip himself for his chosen calling.
Mr. Potter first entered the employ of the Sun as a carrier and forged his way up through the ranks to a chair in the editorial room. He has shown unusual ability and aptness in newspaper work and has already given promise of an exceptionally bright and promising future.
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Binghamton Press, November 4, 1921
Syracuse [Onondaga Co., NY]: That the smaller town student can compete successfully against a metropolitan competitor when it comes to writing for the newspaper was evidenced at Syracuse last week. Among the 50 students in the Department of Journalism of Syracuse University aspiring writers from smaller towns of the state won three signal honors. The cash values amounted to $305.
The winner of the annual Syracuse Journal scholarship award, amounting to $200, a year's tuition in the Department of Journalism, was Foster C. Potter of Norwich, N.Y. Mr. Potter's story of how a student is earning his way through college by selling silk stockings to co-eds was considered best in a competition to determine which student could write the best exclusive news article.
A committee of Syracuse city daily newspaper men judged the articles submitted from the standpoint of originality, thoroughness and interesting style. Mr. Potter wrote his first newspaper story in the office of the Norwich Sun.
An award of $100 for the best essay, not to exceed 400 words on "What Syracuse Owes to the University" was won by Miss Mabel G. Parker of Catskill, N.Y., formerly of Hudson, N.Y., and a native of Mavre de Grace, Maryland. Competition in this contest was open to the general public throughout New York State.
Frank A. Taber, Jr. of Endicott, N.Y., was award third prize in a competition conducted by the Syracuse Herald.
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Marriage Notice
Addison, NY Advertiser, August 28, 1924
Foster C. Potter of Syracuse [Onondaga Co., NY] and Miss Grace A. Ackley of Westfield, Pa. were married Monday afternoon at the Baptist Parsonage by Rev. D. M. Ratcliff. They will reside in Syracuse where the groom is employed as a reporter.
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Foster Potter Retires After a "Fair" Life
Lynne Fisher
Times Union, Albany, NY, June 30, 1970
Foster C. Potter
"I can remember fairs since the beginning of time," said Foster Potter, one-time reporter, former editor, and public relations expert. Potter, who retires today as director of public relations for the State Department of Agriculture and Markets and who holds a degree in journalism, claims no specialty "other than fairs." That's understandable though. As a boy, he lived across the street from the State fairgrounds at Syracuse. His father, a train dispatcher, raised cantaloupes "and always won first place with them" at the big State Fair.
Foster Potter has been director of public relations for the department for 36 years. He's the only man to have held the job and has worked under six agriculture commissioners. His position was called "publicity editor," before World War II. "At that time," he said, "reporters from the papers used to cover the office every day," as part of the "state beat." Much of the material prepared by the department is now sent to the State Radio Bureau which turns it over to radio stations for release. Potter said the new system is effective, and the department receives monthly reports from the bureau indicating the number of radio stations that use the material.
Potter was editor of his college newspaper, the Daily Orange, at Syracuse University, where he received his BA in journalism. He served as a reporter and city editor of the Norwich Sun and a reporter with the old Syracuse Herald prior to joining the Department of Agriculture and Markets. While reporting for the Herald, he also worked part-time at the State Fair preparing farm publicity for weeklies and daily newspapers in the area. In 1934 at the fair, he met Charles H. Baldwin, then commissioner of agriculture and markets, who asked him to come and work for the department in Albany.
"I've always had a lot to do with fairs," Potter said. As director of public relations, he attended the State Fair each year for the department, and from 1949 to 1965, he was also a director on the board of the Altamont Fair.
Potter explained that he had no farming background whatsoever before joining the department, "I don't think you have to have an agricultural background," he said, "I think it's a disadvantage."
"If you had farming background," he explained, "you would take so many things for granted. You would assume that everyone knew the answers."
"Without it," he continued, "You would ask the kind of questions that those without the background would ask."
"Agriculture to some is a complete mystery. The average person who goes to a fair has no agricultural background, has never lived on a farm, or seen any of the things on a farm until he gets to the fairgrounds," he said.
Potter said the State Fair is the only contact with far life for a good percentage of the three million people who attend it each year.
"Fairs are educational," he explained, "and you can't have education without fun."
"If you have a good time while you're learning, maybe you're not even conscious that you are learning."
The original purpose of a fair was to create an incentive for one farmer to outdo his neighbor in the quality of his products, Potter said. In a baking contest, for example he said, the prize winner knows that her apple pie was better than anyone elses.
Living across from the fairgrounds, young Potter found life exciting. "I met Buffalo Bill when I was six years old," he recalled./ He remembered a little hole in the fairground fence through which he and his friends would crawl. "I suppose we could have gone through the gate for free," he said, "but his way was more fun."
Potter said he has attended every State Fair since he was a boy. The fair was cancelled during World War II so that the armed forces could use the grounds. At that time, Potter was aboard a Navy "rocket ship" in the Pacific. "It was a brand new concept of attack vessel, capable of firing 1,045 five-inch shells in three quarters of a minute, he explained. Potter's rocket ship was the only one to be "peppered" at Okinawa, he said, "We were sent ahead to draw Japanese fire." We had a front-row seat to every invasion." A week before the invasion at Okinawa, Potter received the license plates for his car, which was in Albany. "We were going to put them on the stern of the boat and take pictures, but the invasion came the next day and we never got around to it." he said.
At his retirement dinner at the Holiday Inn, Potter was given a typewriter. "If you're in public relations," he said "you have to live with a typewriter." "The most difficult thing about retirement is learning to live without a secretary," he said. Potter said he plans to devote most of his time to running his own public relations agency, from his home in Guilderland. His wife, Betty, is a church organist who retired from active practice several years ago. She still continues to play at various churches. Potter's plans may also include some carpentry. "I have a saw and some tools and things which I haven't used in a long time," he said. He hopes to finish a combination cocktail-dining table he began a year ago.
"I'm going to play it by ear," he explained. "I've had four job offers already, but I don't want to tie myself down. I'm getting lazy." And, of course, there's the State Fair. The man who hasn't missed one yet will be there again this September.
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Note: Foster C. Potter was born 12 December 1899 the son of Charles William and Juliet (Barse) Potter. He married Grace Anna Ackley in 1924. He died 13 August 1977, possibly in Guilderland, Albany Co., NY, and was buried in Westerlo Central Cemetery, Westerlo, Albany Co., NY.
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