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Daughter of Seth Nyle Wilson and Martha A. Thompson. She was born on 15 August 1855 in Michigan. In 1912 she survived the sinking of the Titanic disaster. Lily married Thomas Potter Jr. in 1876, a wealthy man that was in the big business, like his parents. He was officer in the National Guard, who helped in the relief of the survivors in the deathly 1889 flood. They were the parents of three children: Thomas III, Wilson, and Olive. The family resided in Mt. Airy, Pennsylvania.

In 1894 she and Thomas lost one of their children, Thomas III, he was only 17.

Thomas died at the age of 60 in 1910. Somwhere in December 1911, Lily took a vaction in Europe and her daughter went along, as well as Margaret Hays, an old school friend of Lily. Olive's was married to Boulton Earnshaw but their marriage hadn't worked out, and Olive needed a break after she had filed for divorce. They visited many places in Italy, the Middle East and their last country was Turkey.

They booked passage on Titanic after they heard stories about the great new ship, and her curiosity was awakened. When Titanic had docked in the evening of the 10th of April, they were transitioned to Titanic from the tender Nomadic.

She suffered from seasickness during the voyage. She, her daughter and Mrs. Hays often spent time in the First Class Lounge and conversed with many people. On Sunday April 14, the women and withdrew from the social activities and festivities as soon as they were chilled by the drop in temperature that was felt on Titanic within 2 hours time, and they all went to bed.

At 11:40 P.M. the stoppage of the engines after a sudden shudder had got her out of bed, Olive and Margaret had come to her cabin. Lily asked them to see what all the ruckus was about. After ten minutes the girls had an answer from a steward. An iceberg was struck, but he assured them they could just continue to sleep. Lily wasn't satisfied with this, and was sharper than Margaret and Olive, as well as more worried, and she was certain they better didn't stay there and wait. She advised them to take of their corsets, in case they had to swim. And heavy undergarments were needed too. They collected blankets and Bebe, Margaret's Pommarian dog was wrapped in one of them. Being finished, they headed out. Lily came across Gilbert Tucker, and he manouvered them into their lifejackets while standing at the C-Deck landing.

She escaped the sinking in lifeboat 7 with her party, Mr. Tucker could board too. When the lifeboat was rowing away from the ship, her eyes were fixated on the Titanic, which she saw going down by the head, deck after deck. She also noticed the musicians playing, and the flares that were sent up, one after another. When Titanic's final moments came, she found the screams she heard nothing less than awful and it had sent shivers down her spine.

She and her party did as much as they could to give aid to the survivors who lost their families during the voyage aboard Carpathia, which made their way to New York.

Lily and her daughter became volunteers for the Red Cross in 1916 and carried out their duties for the rest of their lives. The experience of the Titanic disaster had its impact on Lily. She never sailed on another passengership across the ocean ever again, after her arrival in New York. She did give interviews about her story regarding the ship. She had the honor to become the oldest Red Cross volunteer ever in her region, at the age of 88, in 1944.

Lily Potter reached the more than respectable age of 98, and passed away on the first January of 1954. Her coffin lies at Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia. Her daughter was buried in the same grave later on.

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