Obituary: Margaret Potter Childs

Margaret Potter Childs

1912 ~ 2008

Iris Margaret Schow Potter Childs was born April 11, 1912 in Lehi, Utah, to A. Carlos and Laura Davis Schow. She died May 17, 2008 at her home in Provo.Margaret grew up in Lehi with her brother Elden and her sisters Ila and Erma. She attended Lehi High School and was awarded a scholarship to Brigham Young University, where she studied home economics.

She married Glenn Sowards Potter of Bancroft, Idaho in the Salt Lake Temple on December 21, 1931. He died of pneumonia in 1936. Margaret started teaching two weeks later and moved from elementary school in Pleasant Grove to Lehi High School where she taught clothing and art, then to Davis High School in Kaysville, Utah where she taught clothing and was also Dean of Girls during the World War II years. She started teaching in the clothing and textiles department at BYU in 1946 and continued teaching there until her retirement in 1977. She was a graduate of BYU, earned a masters degree from Oregon State University and did doctoral work at the University of Minnesota. Among her membership in many academic and professional organizations, she was a member of Omicron Nu, a home economics scholarship organization, and Phi Kappa Phi; she was also instrumental in bringing a chapter of Phi Kappa Phi to BYU. She was twice the chairman of the clothing and textiles department. She had a variety of church callings throughout her lifetime and served faithfully in all of them. She was active in BYU Women, a faculty women's organization, and more recently she was on the board of directors for the BYU Emeritus Association.

She married Bertrand Alonzo Childs in 1959, he died in 1999. Margaret and Lon served a mission as directors of the visitors center at the Hyde Park Chapel in London, England, and later served as temple workers in the Provo LDS Temple. They were honored at the 1999 BYU Homecoming with the Alumni Association's Service to Family Award.

Margaret is survived by children Wester S. (Polly) Potter, Ralph P. (Paulette) Childs, Kaye (Todd) Woolley and Ross P. (Charmaine) Childs; grandchildren Elisabeth (Scott) Boss, Meghan (Danny)

Cannon, Paige Potter, Greg

(Barbara) Childs, Tonya (Brandon) Neff, Lindy (Michael) Humphries, Darron (VaLynn) Woolley, Marcia (Mark) Randall and Brandon Childs; and 13 great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, May 23, 2008 at the Oak Hills 7th Ward Chapel, 1038 North 1200 East in Provo. Friends and family may call Thursday evening at the church from 7-9 pm and again on Friday at 10 a.m. Interment at Payson City Cemetery.Online guestbook at wingmortuary.com.