This is a tribute to an amazing, strong, and loving woman who lived her life to the fullest and who touched so many lives during her time here on earth.
Christa Mae Magers Potts danced into this world on February 15, 1948, to Harold and Marie Magers in Marion, Ohio. She lived in the Massillon area for 61 years of her life and graduated from Jackson High School in 1966. After high school she attended Akron University and became a member of the beta sigma phi sorority. She was a member of the sorority for over 50 years and through this sorority made life-long friends.
At the age of 3, Christa started her life-long passion of dance at the Wally and Flower Hamilton Dance Studio in Marion, Ohio. She would later go on to dance at Betty Adelman Dance Studio in Massillon, Ohio. By the age of 15, she was sharing her passion for dance by teaching at the studio she grew up in. She would later share her joy with the students at Self’s Academy of Dance and Judy Cain’s School of Dance before she was able to finally live out her dream of starting her own studio. In 1979, Miss Chris, as her students would call her, opened Chris T’s Dance Emporium. Today, what started with 18 students that first year is now 175 students, all because she had a dream and she courageously embraced it. If you ask her students, they will tell you that Miss Chris was more than a dance teacher, she was a mentor, she was a friend, she was family. Christa also shared her many talents throughout her life by being a model and even a mime. She choreographed high school musicals at both Massillon Washington High School and Jackson High School. She also choreographed and performed for numerous Massillon Lion’s Club Annual shows. For over 47 years she shared her love of dance and the arts with so many children and adults. In 2015, she retired and moved to Inverness, Florida with her husband Larry.
On Thursday, September 9, 2021, Christa’s soul left as it came, dancing from this life to the next. Her spirit lives on in every life that she touched, including her husband, Larry Potts and his family (mother: Donna Lucas; siblings: Randy (Pam) Potts, Elayne Fender (John Smith), Allan Davis and Leslee Davis; children: Angela Potts-Russell, Lawrence Potts Jr. and Luke Potts; grandchildren: Aleasia, Shiann, Draven, Lawrence III, and Emma); her daughters, Kari (Joe) Boyer and Kelly Turkal (Chris Weisend); her siblings, Judith Bixler, Sharon Miller, Chip (Bonnie) Magers, and Michele (Scott) Williams; her grandchildren, Brooke, Montana, Joey, Shawn, Joe, Spencer and Landyn: Great Grandchildren, Waylon and Wesley, many nieces and nephews, friends, and countless dance students. Her legacy lives on. Dance now Miss Chris with your mom (Marie) and dad (Harold), with your father-in-law “Papa John”, with your niece Trisha Bixler and Larry’s son Joshua who have already gone before you. Dance. “Forever Dance”
A Celebration of Life will be held in her honor on Saturday, November 6, 2021 at 2:00 at Santangelo’s Party Center in Massillon.
