Valhalla Bound… A tribute to my dad.

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Jerry Rocky Potts

April 6, 1956 – June 6, 2017

Today marks a full month since my dad passed away. Obituaries are expensive. So what a better way to pay tribute then on my blog.

Jerry was the youngest and only son to Richard and Mary Potts. He had 2 older sisters, Bonnie Potts and Penny Reedle. All waiting for him with open arms and a beer. Maybe a smack as well.

My grandfather Richard was a steel worker. And the family traveled all over the US as he worked on bridges and dams, most notably the Oroville Dam. He had plenty of ghost stories and tales he liked to tell about living in the southern states. The family came back to California and settled in Santa Maria. This is where he met the love of his life Eva Thomas.

They were married July 5, 1975, and at one time managed a motel in Merced. But mom got pregnant with me and they moved back to Santa Maria. I was Born in November 1979. My dad stated he was over protective of me. One halloween someone said something negative and lost an eye. I was dad’s son. I climbed trees, stole his whiskey shots, got to excited watching Rocky and wrestling.

18 months after I was born Sara was born. We lived in Santa Maria until I was about 6. We relocated to Atwater, where dad and mom got jobs building ladders and Windows. Soon mom went and got her CNA license and dad became a truck driver. Which he did until he retired. Jerika surprised us in 1991. Making the last of the Potts girls. Then we were living in Winton where we grew up, and were known by our dad. You were one of the Potts girls lol.

Dad loved motorcycles, a nice cold beer,  preferably Budweiser, a good movie, usually with Bruce Willis, and good music.

He left me with a love/hate relationship with zombies, a love of movies, a dark sense of humor, and the love of rock music.

His stories will live on. My favorites being he had dinner with Albert Einstein, and met Metallica at the McDonald’s in Fresno.

For those who knew him. Knew he was an asshole. But he was our asshole. And he never turned down our friends when they were in need of help. A lot of them became family knowing our house was a safe place.

RIP dad you will be missed, but at least I knew you were proud of all that I am. And he loved my mom, me, my sisters, and cousins so much.

Memorial will be July 29th.