Mrs. Lilly Potter, 98, Was ‘Grand Old Lady’ of Red Cross
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Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES
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PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 2---Mrs. Lilly A. Wilson Potter, a descendant of the Mayflower Pilgrims who was known as the “Grand Old Lady” of the Red Cross, died yesterday at her home. Her age was 98. She was a survivor of the Titanic disaster in 1912.

Mrs. Potter, the widow of Col. Thomas Potter Jr., helped found the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Red Cross. She became active in relief work at the time of the Johnstown flood, when her husband headed a relief mission to the stricken city. She sent a trained nurse from her household to join Clara Barton during the typhoid epidemic that followed the great flood.

Mrs. Potter headed the Volunteer Corps from World War I through World War II. At one time during World War II, the corps’ membership totaled more than 70,000.

She received the Gimbel Award as Philadelphia’s outstanding woman of 1939 and turned $1,000 in prize money over to the Red Cross.