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In 1981, at just 17 years old, Heidi Potter started a high school internship with the fledgling Caroline County Recreation and Parks (CCRP) department. Back then she had a shared office with her supervisor, an electric typewriter, a phone, and a minimum wage pay rate of $3.35 an hour. Potter graduated from North Caroline three weeks later on May 31, but she kept her position with CCRP — and kept it, and kept it. Only now, more than four decades later, is she preparing to leave the office.
Potter grew up close, moving from Easton to Hurlock in elementary school. “I feel like Caroline County was my home,” she said, “even though I wasn’t here in those younger years, it seems like I was.” Her starting title with CCRP was Clerk Typist I. From there her roles have only evolved, moving up gradually to Clerk Typist II, Management Associate, and Administrative Aide. Potter now serves as the department’s Office Manager, and having managed the day-to-day operations for so long, her fingerprints are all over every CCRP program, park, and event. “I feel like I grew up here, in this department,” she said.
The departrment itself has grown and changed just as much. Over the years, she has worked out of the old Shaffner printing building on Market Street, later the HAPS building, and eventually the department’s current renovated space at the old armory, now known as the Frettard Community Center. The equipment evolved, too. “We finally got a word processor at some point,” she said, but, “when they started talking about computers…I was adamant that I did not need a computer.” She now has three monitors on her desk. Lastly, Potter has seen the expansion of CCRP from a three man team overseeing a handful of parks to about a dozen employees handling everything from major park construction to community events and public space maintenance.
Former Director of CCRP Sue Simmons, who worked with Potter for roughly 37 years, described Potter as the department’s administrative backbone — the one who helped build and improve office processes and kept things steady as more facets of CCRP were forged. “Her actions speak louder than her words,” Simmons said, “She treated people with consideration and with kindness, with an open ear.”
When asked why she stayed for more than 40 years, Potter said she just “really liked the people” that she worked with. Potter was technically eligible for retirement ten years ago, but she figured, “Why go somewhere else and start at the bottom? I was only 48. I could have had another whole career, but…I enjoyed what I was doing and the people,” she said, “I worked with Sue Simmons for 36 years. I worked with Linda Reis for 27. Stacy Seward was here for 20… you are a family when those things happen,” she said.
As Office Manager, Potter’s work has rarely sat in the spotlight. She manages a complex set of internal budgets broken down across special events, youth programs, youth sports, parks, and the Choptank Marina, often translating those numbers into something usable for the rest of the staff. She also handles reimbursements tied to multiple funding sources, including Program Open Space, Waterway Improvement, and the Land and Water Conservation Fund, that all require detailed documentation. Big projects like the North County Park in Greensboro, take “multiple years, multiple matching funds… it’s very difficult.”
Current Director Jamie Beechey said that regardless of title or age, everyone in the department knows Potter as the office “mom.”
Beechey describes Heidi as “a quiet storm.” “She’s seen so much…She’s been through the toughest economic times. She’s been through two crazy directors — crazy in different ways,” Beechey said. She compares Potter to Radar from MASH and Mrs. Kravitz from Bewitched. “She always knows,” Beecher added.
One of the most visible pieces of Heidi’s work, at least internally, has been the Choptank Marina. “I do most of the management of Choptank Marina. So, I would say that’s kind of my baby,” she said. The Marina now includes 73 slips, but that hasn’t stopped Potter from forging personal relationships with each boater. Some of them she has known her entire tenure. Beechey noted that those relationships are part of what defines Potter’s approach. “She oversees reservations and permits, and she’s created this family of people,” Beechey said. Heidi acknowledges that her instinct is to lean into the customer service side of her role. “I’m probably too easy on people,” she joked.
Her tenure has included major projects like North County Park, Marydel Park, and South County Regional Park, along with operational shifts such as CCRP taking over management of 4-H Park rentals from University of Maryland Extension. In many cases, her role was to ensure that paperwork was completed correctly after the visible work was done. She has also played a vital role in community events, particularly serving in the information booth at Summerfest: coordinating volunteers, tracking logistics like stage and restroom placement, and helping ensure the event ran smoothly on the ground. After Simmons’ retirement, she also helped maintain corporate sponsorship relationships that supported equipment upgrades and the staple event’s continued growth.
Her retirement is now set for the end of May 2026. “It just kind of felt like it was time,” she said. Still, the transition is complicated by how much of the job exists only in her memory. Two years ago, she began keeping a detailed notebook, tracking tasks month by month for her successor. “Honestly, I don’t know how to get all this stuff out of my head… It just becomes second nature,” she said. Longtime CCRP staff member Debbie Scott will step in as Office Manager in June. Potter explained that it’s never been for the money, and certainly not for the public recognition. Simmons called Potter’s retirement from Caroline County CCRP “an end of an era.”
In retirement, Potter plans to spend time with her grandchildren, help care for her parents, and take advantage of any opportunities that life may offer. Though she now lives in Centreville, she hopes to maintain the connections she’s built with the people of Caroline County.
