Potter served in South Korea, Germany and as Arroyo research fellow

Lieutenant Colonel Mike Potter currently serves as District 4 Councilman on Madison City Council. CONTRIBUTED

MADISON – Mike Potter entered the U.S. Army in May 1970 and retired in September 1990 as Lieutenant Colonel.

Potter served with Air Defense Artillery at Fort Bliss, Texas. In Operational Unit assignments, he was assigned with Hawk Missile System in south Florida, Nike Hercules in South Korea as Battery Commander and Chaparral/Vulcan with the 1st Infantry Division in Germany as Battery Commander.

In addition, he worked with self-propelled HAWK at Fort Bliss.

Potter completed Officer’s Basic and Advanced Courses at Fort Bliss and graduated from U.S.A.F. Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base. Also at Fort Bliss, he finished Guided Missile Systems Engineering Course.

Potter was one of two initial research fellows for the Arroyo research program at Rand Corporation in Santa Monica, Calif. His research and development assignments include Patriot Missile Program Office, White Sands Missile Range and Research, Development and Engineering Center (RDEC) on Redstone Arsenal.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics at Spring Hill College in Mobile and a master’s degree in electrical engineering at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Married 45-plus years, he and wife Patricia, a homemaker, have two daughters. Amy and Chris Bock live in Huntsville with three-year-old Harrison. Leigh and Justin Tarr of Madison are parents of 11-year-old Logan. Logan is a sixth-grader at West Madison Elementary School. Harrison is three years old and attends Madison United Methodist Preschool.

The Potters moved to Madison in 2003 from southeast Huntsville. “We’ve been asking why we moved for over 13 years … seemed like a good idea at the time. We had lived in Huntsville for 20 years. We’re glad we did move, however, as we love Madison, its people and its size,” he said. In 2008, Potter retired from Raytheon.

Potter represents District 4 on Madison City Council. He serves as president of Taylor’s Crossing homeowners’ association and with Madison Planning Commission and American Legion Post 229.

The family attends St. John the Baptist Catholic Church.

His hobbies are collecting and playing guitars and playing “Clash of Clans” with his grandson.