My father, Joseph Emil Potvin was born in Wine Village on July 18, 1913, married on April 18, 1936, died on September 18, 1983 and lived at 18 South Main Street, North Brookfield, MA. He was the fifth of six siblings and had a 14th grade education. Papa Joe was meek and humble and a descent man and taught me much in the years we were together. Dad had a sense of humor, was mechanically inclined, and played the harmonica. He never owned a new car but every car he owned was like new.
My bonding with my father was especially good. We did things together like picking nuts on Donovan Road to his hitting me flies on our lawn on South Main Street.
Dad had two callings in employment: first, as a bedlaster for HH Brown Shoe then as a master carpenter for A.L. Potvin, Builder. In his lifetime dad built over 25 houses in the Brookfields on Summit Terrace and elsewhere.
As Sybil Sandman once said "Everybody liked Joe Potvin" and everybody did!
It is with that thought I remember my father, today, and in this spirit thank him for all he did with me and for me and by me! It is a wise man who is aware of a inseparable bonding exists between a father and a son!
Be sure to log onto "The Old Man" song by John McDermott of the Irish Tenors... the lyrics will touch your heart as it does me!
ROBERT LOUIS POTVIN
"Rita & Joe" 1977
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