Edward Lex Potter, 92, of Oxford, North Carolina, passed away on January 14, 2025.
Born March 24, 1932, in Kelly, Bladen County, North Carolina, Ed was the son of James Melvin
Potter and Gertrude Squires Potter. In 1935, the family moved to Wilmington, NC, where Ed
spent much of his early life.
Ed was an avid piano player, and music played a central role in his life. He performed for
decades in bands that played at events and venues across southeastern North Carolina. At 17,
he began his radio career with Potter’s Piano Ramblings, a 15-minute daily program on a
Wilmington station which featured his piano playing and commentary.
Ed attended the Governor Morehead School for the Blind, completing high school in 1952. In
1956 he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, becoming the first blind
student in its Department of Radio, Television, and Motion Pictures. He was inducted into Phi
Beta Kappa and the Order of the Golden Fleece.
For thirteen years, Ed worked in radio broadcasting as an on-air DJ at WRRZ in Clinton, WTSB
in Lumberton, and WENC in Whiteville, NC. Ed enjoyed small-town radio because he got to
know people in the community, and it enabled him to hone his broadcasting and production
talents.
In 1969, Ed decided to transition from radio to education. After studying for a year at University
of North Carolina Wilmington, he completed a Master’s degree in Speech Communications at
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1973. To support his education and growing
family, Ed continued to play piano in combos and tune pianos. He joined the faculty of Wayne
Community College in Goldsboro, NC, and taught Public Speaking there for twenty-four years,
retiring in 1997.
From an early age, Ed enjoyed a large network of friends in the blind community. In 1979, Ed
created Playback Magazine and in 1990, Playback Underground, audio cassette publications
that provided technology updates, equipment reviews, and interviews to a national audience.
Both publications relied heavily on contributions from listeners, uniting his network of close
friends with common interests. Later, he produced Coffee with Ed, a series of short
commentaries published on a telephone message board for the blind community.
From 1979 to 2007, Ed and his wife, Sue, ran Playback Marketing, an audio catalog business
for the visually impaired. It featured a tone-indexing system that enabled listeners to browse
and order from a range of products conveniently and independently. Their first catalog was 21
hours and included diverse items, such as audio equipment and household goods. In 2017,
Ed and Sue moved next door to their daughter and son-in-law in Oxford, NC,
where they enjoyed nightly dinners as a family.
Ed is survived by his wife, Sue Washington Owen Potter; his children, Margaret Sue Potter
Harris (Larry "Sonny") of Oxford, NC, and Edward Andrew Potter of Raleigh, NC; his
grandchildren, Cecilia Thomas Harris (Naser Shamma), Jacob Aaron Harris (Morgan Trick),
Larry Harris (Jenny), and Jessica Harris; and seven great-grandchildren. He was predeceased
by his brother, James Sedric Potter, and his sister, Nelva Hammonds, both of Wilmington, NC.
A celebration of his life will be held on Monday, January 20, 2025 at 1:00 at Oxford Presbyterian
Church in Oxford, NC with a visitation after the service.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Oxford Presbyterian Church
(https://oxfordpres.org/give/) or Friends of the North Carolina Accessible Books and Library
Services (https://www.friendsnclbph.org/donate.php).
