Talking with my parents about how to handle it when your parents die (in memory of Alice Potts, 1943-2025)

About this episode

Rolf Potts discusses aging, death, and family relationships with his parents in the context of surviving the COVID-19 pandemic.

Note: This encore episode is dedicated to the memory of Alice Potts, who died on August 20, 2025, aged 81. “In America aging is often seen as an insult rather than an inevitable human process. We don’t celebrate getting older; we ‘fight’ age by pretending to be young.” –Rolf Potts In this episode of Deviate Rolf and his parents, Alice and George Potts, talk about how surviving the COVID-19 pandemic has changed their relationship, and how it gave them a pretext to go through a “death checklist” together (3:00); how one’s grandparents and parents live on in one’s memories and one’s conversations, the life-values they passed on, and what it felt like when those loved ones declined and died (14:00); how, over the years, elderly people and philosophers have come to terms with notions of decline and death (31:00); and personal insights about what it’s like to have grown older after having lived a long life (44:00). George and Alice Potts are retired schoolteachers based in Kansas. George taught science at various Wichita high schools, as well as at Friends University, where he pioneered graduate-level programs in Zoo Science and Environmental Studies. He also helped facilitate the…

People in this episode

Host: Rolf Potts

Guests: Alice Potts, George Potts

Topics covered

• aging
• death
• family relationships
• COVID-19 impact
• memories
• life-values
• philosophy of decline

Keywords

• aging
• death checklist
• family
• COVID-19
• memories
• philosophy
• life-values

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, Friends University

Places: Kansas

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