Marcia Lorraine Blanchard Suthon Pottle

LISBON – Marcia Lorraine Blanchard Suthon Pottle, Fulbright Scholar, Protein Folder, Computational Chemist, Code Optimizer, Master Gardener, Environmental Activist, Silent Suthon, Mother of Pottles, has passed from this world. Exiting one train and boarding the next one waiting for her, she paused briefly on the platform to look up at the stars in the night sky.

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Jan. 9, 1936, she left us on Dec. 20, 2024, calmly, peacefully, always the expert even in death, surrounded by her beloved family and in the hearts of many. We shall not look upon her like again.

Marcia was one of eight daughters and two sons of Archibald Magill Suthon and Bessie Imogen (Keen) Suthon. She graduated from Fortier High School in 1954, earned a B.S. in chemistry from the Newcomb College of Tulane University in 1958, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in the same year. She was a Fulbright scholar at the University of Erlangen, Germany, 1958-59, subsequently earning an M.S. in Organic Chemistry from Johns Hopkins University in 1961. While in Germany, she met Christopher Pottle, a fellow Fulbright scholar from New Haven, Conn. They married in 1961.

When Marcia arrived at Johns Hopkins in 1959, her professors told her that because she would soon get married and leave the workforce, she was taking up a valuable spot in the program that would be better filled by a man. Nevertheless, she persisted. She earned her degree, married, and joined a research group in the Chemistry Department at Cornell. Later, she took ten years off to have children, then returned to work in the same research group, then leading the way in the emerging discipline of computational chemistry. By the early 80’s, looking to make a change, she earned her second M.S. at the tender age of 48, this time in statistics, at Carnegie-Mellon University, and took a position as a parallel systems engineer at the Cornell Theory Center, where she spent the rest of her career.

Upon retirement, Marcia and Chris moved to Oxford, Maine, Chris’ mother’s family home for several generations, where they had spent summers throughout their married life. Marcia expressed her love of the outdoors through gardening, camping, hiking, and swimming, particularly at the family camp in nearby Otisfield.

As an activist, Marcia’s passion for social and environmental justice brought her to leadership and supporting roles in many organizations, including the Thompson Lake Environmental Association (TLEA), the Fare Share Food Co-op, the McLaughlin Garden and Homestead, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, and the Freeland Holmes Memorial Library. As a young child, she began a lifetime of dedicated service in the Episcopal Church, serving in choirs, on vestries, and in countless other ways at churches in New Orleans, Ithaca, New York, and Norway, Maine. She often brought her considerable analytical and computing skills to bear in her volunteer work, serving as treasurer of a number of organizations in which she also helped to integrate current technology.

Later in her life, Marcia spent several years in assisted living, where she met the second great love of her life, Bill Gould; in 2024, she moved to a dedicated memory care community. Although her dementia gradually deepened over time, she always knew her children and retained until the end her sharp sense of humor and her access to joy.

Predeceased by Christopher Pottle, her husband of 49 years, and by Bill Gould, her companion in her later years, Marcia is survived by her sisters Carolyn Crochet of Terrytown, Louisiana and Kat Suthon of San Anselmo, California, a son, Samuel W. Pottle of Oxford, Maine (partner KJ Williams); a daughter, Manette B. Pottle of Camden, Maine (husband Robert Schneider); a son, John F. Pottle of Williamsburg, Virginia (wife Sylvia Pottle); and as many nieces, nephews, cousins, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and friends as there are stars in the sky.

Friends and family are invited to a visitation on Friday, January 24, from 3-6 p.m., at Chandler Funeral Home in South Paris, Maine, and to the funeral services on Saturday, January 25 at 1 p.m., at Christ Episcopal Church in Norway, with the Revs. Nancy Moore and Lael Sorensen officiating, and a reception to follow. Spring interment will be at Elmwood Cemetery in Otisfield, Maine.

To make an online condolence please visit http://www.chandlerfunerals.com.

Donations, in lieu of flowers, may be sent to: Christ Episcopal Church, 35 Paris Street, Norway, ME 04268; Thompson Lake Environmental Association, P.O. Box 25, Oxford, ME, 04270; McLaughlin Garden and Homestead, P.O. Box 492, South Paris, ME 04281; or Episcopal Peace Fellowship, 2045 West Grand Ave, Suite B #40058, Chicago, IL, 60612-1577.