Obituary of Orr Potebnya

Colonel Orr Y. Potebnya, USAF (Retired) Orr lived the American dream! He was born on 28 August 1919 to Yuri and Nina Potebnya in Tomsk, Russia and died 8 January 2010. His parents were “White Russians” and had to quickly leave their homeland as the Communist “Red” forces gained control of the country. At the age of less than one year, they put him in a picnic basket – sedated – and boarded a Canadian troop train of the Allied Intervention to restore the non-communist government of Russia. No children were allowed on this military train but thankfully by the time he cried, the train commander let him remain on board until they reached their destination of Harbin, China. He was raised in Harbin, finishing Russian gymnasium (high school) in 1936. He rowed competitively in international competition and won scull, pairs and fours championships. As the Second World War appeared imminent (Japanese invaded China in 1931) it became apparent he would need to move on. In 1938 his maternal Uncle in Seattle sponsored his immigration. He soon began working for the Frye Meatpacking Company and was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942. He subsequently became a citizen and went to Infantry Officer Candidate School; was assigned to the China Burma India Theater; where he met Stephanie Kordek – an Army Nurse – and they married in April 1945 (with a honeymoon in Myitkyina, Burma). Following the war he and his bride returned to Seattle where he completed his B.A. at the University of Washington in 1947 (M.A. in 1955) simultaneously serving on the faculty of the Far East and Slavic Department. He volunteered to return to active military service in 1947 as a Captain in the fledgling U.S. Air Force. Assignments as a curriculum planner for the U.S. Air Force Academy; Assistant Air Attaché at the embassy in Moscow during the Korean War; Air Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Prague and finally on the staff of the Secretary of Defense in Washington D.C. followed. He retired from the Air Force in 1964, whereupon he moved to Hong Kong as the Far East Manager of E.I. DuPont deNemours Corporation. In 1968 he returned to Seattle, to the city he loved most in the world, serving as the curator for the Frye Art Museum and then owning the Russell Jones Real Estate brokerage firm. He spoke fluent Mandarin Chinese and Russian. He was preceded in death by Stephanie, his wife of sixty years in 2005, and by his younger brother Nikita, a talented violinist, in 2009. Survivors include both of his sons, Lt. Colonel Orr Y. Potebnya, Jr., USAF retired, and Alexander O. Potebnya, JD. and his wife Cheryl Potebnya JD, as well two biological grandchildren, Nicole Potebnya-Meyer, JD, Nathanael O. Potebnya, and great-grandson William Potebnya-Meyer and Shannon Shaw and Michelle Drury and their children. Funeral Service will be held at St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Seattle; interment at Tahoma National Cemetery with full military honors. Please leave memories and condolences for family online by clicking on "View Guestbook" below.