Cora Pote

Cora Elizabeth Mitchell Pote of Pine Bluff, died peacefully Monday morning, February 26, 2018, after a brief illness. She was born in Bastrop, Louisiana on May 16, 1927, the youngest of five children to Robert Woodrome Mitchell and Cora Caroline Edwards Mitchell. A few years after her father served Bonnie and Clyde their last breakfast at his cafe (according to family lore), the Mitchells moved to Globe, Ariz., looking for opportunity during the Great Depression. Cora graduated from high school there, worked as a newspaper reporter, and attended Southern California Bible College where she met Henri DeVries Pote. The two married on December 18, 1948, and had sixteen children together (14 by birth and two by adoption). Cora often said that there was no surer sign of the Holy Spirit's indwelling than a joyful song on a Christian's lips. Unsurprisingly, the Pote house was often filled with the sound of her children gathered around her at the piano, singing hymns she'd taught them each by heart (and in parts!). It was not uncommon for the living room choir to include a stranger or two — a hitchhiker, perhaps, or even a parolee the Potes had befriended. She continued to care for the least of these as if they were Christ himself throughout her life. In the 1960s, Cora's passion for justice led her to advocate for civil rights and school integration in Pine Bluff. When Watson Chapel, her children's school, was integrated, she took her kids to the former all-black Coleman school to help with the students' transition. She was just as strong an advocate in church, believing that Jesus's blood was shed for each and every person and that she would not be part of a congregation that refused to include any of his children. There was so much more to Cora's long and faithful life. The Fig Tree Coffee House ministry on Cherry Street changed many young lives in Pine Bluff. She worked as a midwife's assistant and advocated for natural childbirth. In recent years she and Henri were active in the Double Wells Assembly of God church. Perhaps nothing brought Cora more joy than her children and the scores of grandchildren and great-grandchildren they gave her, photographs of whom covered the refrigerator and the top of the upright piano. She often said, "I am so rich, not in money, but in what matters." She was preceded in death by her parents, four siblings (Travis, Ardelle, Marie, and Roberta); her son Ernest "Ernie" Andrew Pote; granddaughters Lydia Wayland Pote, Hannah McAlister Pote, and Jessica Joy Granderson Grissen; and her daughter-in-law Linda Marie Wayland Pote. She is survived by children: Ruthie (Irv) Granderson, Susanna (Bill) Granderson, Jonathan Pote, Deborah (Ken) Gheen, Samuel (Raquel) Pote, Daniel (Sharon) Pote, Martha (Mike) Dollar, Joseph (Sherri) Pote, Sarah (Dave) Swartz, Melody (Mike) Bradford, Dorcas (David) VanGilst, Ardelle (Scott) Walters, Dalena Peterman, Michael (Denise) Pote, and Joanna (Jeremiah) Reid, and also by 60 grandchildren and more than 100 great-grandchildren. Visitation is at 10 a.m., Saturday, March 3, at Centennial Fellowship Church in White Hall, Arkansas, with funeral to follow at 11 a.m. Interment is at Lee Cemetery on Sulphur Springs Road by Ralph Robinson & Son Funeral Directors. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Union Rescue Mission/Dorcas House in Little Rock. Online condolences: RalphRobinsonandSon.com.