Margaret Pottick, 1928-2015

Published 10:18 am Friday, January 30, 2015

Margaret Ann (Larson) Pottick, 86, mother, grandmother and friend, died Monday, Jan. 19, 2015, at Northside Hospital in Atlanta.

Margaret Pottick

Though restricted to a wheel chair in her final years, Margaret remained independent, forever feisty and larger than life at Calvin Court Apartments for senior living in Buckhead, Georgia. She loved talking with friends, was floor leader in her apartment building and a member of the resident council. She hosted numerous functions including — most recently — a holiday party and New Year’s Eve party. She took great pleasure in having friends into her home. She loved to laugh. She was an intellectual who enjoyed arguing about politics (or anything else, for that matter) with anyone who would think and debate with her, including her two beloved Atlanta grandchildren, Courtney Ann Gantt and Dylan Vallis Gantt, who fondly remember times spent alone with her.  She attended every grandparent’s day at their private day school in Atlanta and supported their extracurricular activities.

Margaret was born in Albert Lea June 1, 1928, third child of John and Ida (Anderson) Larson, and she grew up during the Depression in that small, prairie city on the Iowa border, where her best friend was Marion Ross, who went on to play Mrs. Cunningham on “Happy Days.”

Margaret was known as “Muggs,” and worked as a Red Cross-certified lifeguard and swimming instructor at Fountain Lake, where she developed skills that would take her to the University of Minnesota aquatic league. Her specialty was the Australian crawl, now known as “freestyle,” and she qualified for the 1948 Olympic trials. She was diagnosed with a heart murmur, which took her out of competition in those days, and she had to settle reluctantly for water ballet (now known as “synchronized swimming”). It was a big disappointment, since she thought swimming might be a ticket to fame and recognition. She took great pride later that her grandchildren in Atlanta, now 15 and 12 respectively, became competitive swimmers.

She married Edward Pottick in 1949 and they had three girls, Kathleen, Frances and Lorelle, who survive. They were divorced in 1971. After the couple moved to Long Island, she taught swimming for many years at Tom Sawyer Day Camp so her children could go to camp for free. In those days she also worked as a volunteer translating books into Braille, ironic given that she developed macular degeneration late in life and was nearly blind.

She frequently spoke of the culture shock she experienced moving from the Midwest to greater New York, but she earned a bachelor’s degree at Adelphi University and master’s degree from the New School for Social Research in political science and remained active in local politics, working on several congressional campaigns. She was a liberal, early to protest the Vietnam War, and she had some unconventional ideas (supporting Fidel Castro, for instance).

She was employed as a social worker In New York, working first in foster care and then as a group worker in a residential treatment facility on the girls’ side for the Department of Children and Families in Nassau County, New York. She loved working with troubled adolescents and programming activities for them. She retired from that role in 1983 to get her real estate license to sell homes on Long Island. She adored going into others’ homes and learning about architecture.

Margaret married Mike Perkel, whom she called “the love of my life,” on Feb. 29, 1976. He died in 2010. The couple retired to Las Vegas where Margaret continued to work part-time as the family’s sole provider.

Above all, Margaret was a survivor. She had two radical mastectomies and beat cancer. She overcame many physical obstacles and chemical dependencies during her life.

Besides her daughters and Courtney and Dylan Gantt, Margaret is survived by two additional grandchildren, Benjamin Peter Varlese and Ana Katrina Varlese; and two sons-in-law, Bryan Gantt and Jonathan Storm.

Memorial services are scheduled at 1 p.m. Monday at Calvin Court, 479 E. Paces Ferry Road in Atlanta, where she lived.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be given either to Calvin Court’s Caring Hands, c/o Patrice Kelly, 479 E. Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta, GA 30305; or to Atlanta Ronald McDonald House Charities, Administrative Offices, 795 Gatewood Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30329.

Online condolences may be made at www.hmpattersonoglethorpe.com.