{"id":431,"date":"2024-11-26T14:03:38","date_gmt":"2024-11-26T15:03:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.violetsinvogue.com\/?p=431"},"modified":"2025-04-03T22:51:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T22:51:09","slug":"a-joyful-thanksgiving-and-a-marriage-experiment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.violetsinvogue.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/26\/a-joyful-thanksgiving-and-a-marriage-experiment\/","title":{"rendered":"A Joyful Thanksgiving and a \u201cMarriage Experiment\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1972 LIFE magazine ran a cover feature on what it termed \u201cMarriage Experiments.\u201d The issue featured several examples of nontraditional domestic units. These ranged from a collective family in Berkeley, California to unmarried parents living in the Boston suburbs. If the Boston couple doesn\u2019t sound all that experimental, keep in mind that this was at a time when raising children out of wedlock was still relatively rare<\/a>, with percentages just starting to climb out of the single digits. (In 2024, about one of four children are being raised by unmarried parents).<\/p>\n

Another one of the \u201cexperiments\u201d in the issue featured Joy and Stan Potts<\/a>, a couple who had what the magazine termed a \u201cfrontier partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how that partnership worked, as described by LIFE:<\/p>\n

\n

For three months each year they disappear into the Idaho Primitive Area<\/a> where, as a team, they operate a commercial hunting camp. To do this they leave behind their three girls, ages 11, 12 and 17, who willingly\u2014and successfully\u2014remain entirely on their own at the alfalfa ranch the Pottses run in Nevada during the rest of the year. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Joy Potts said leaving the children on their own for so long benefited the kids as well as the parents. The kids, she said, learned to be independent. And running the camp together with her husband was good for their relationship. \u201cMarriages get down in the dumps because people sort of ignore each other,\u201d Joy told LIFE. \u201cI know I am an important person to Stan.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Stan, he told LIFE that the key to a happy marriage was sharing in everything\u2014including the inevitable failures. \u201cThen you know how it all works, that it\u2019s not any one person\u2019s fault,\u201d he said. He added that if he were running the camp on his own, \u201cIt would be a lot more lonely and a lot harder without Joy, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The story was photographed by John Dominis<\/a>, and he visited the Potts\u2019 camp during Thanksgiving, when their daughters had come to visit. Their holiday dinner, which also included the hunters at the camp, looks as welcoming as it was rustic.<\/p>\n

The Potts\u2019 \u201cfrontier partnership\u201d was an enduring one. In 2021 Stan and Joy were recognized by the Hall of Fame of the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association, Salmon River Chapter. Later that same year Joy died at age 87, survived by her husband of 67 years. Her obituary<\/a> included a delightful detail on how Joy and Stan first met, while she was Mackay, Idaho visiting family: \u201cDuring that first conversation, she told him she milked cows, and he was hooked.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\n \"\"<\/p>\n
\n

Joy and Stan Potts shared a light moment during Thanksgiving dinner at the hunting camp they ran in Idaho, 1972.<\/p>\n

John Dominis\/LIfe Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n \"\"<\/p>\n
\n

Joy and Stan Potts leave their alfalfa farm and children three months a year to brave the frontier wilderness in Idaho. Here they and their daughters, on the left side of the table, enjoy a Thanksgiving feast, joined by hunters at the camp, 1972.<\/p>\n

John Dominis\/LIfe Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n \"\"<\/p>\n
\n

Joy and Stan Potts would leave their alfalfa farm and children three months a year to run an Idaho hunting camp. Here Joy (second from right) handed out sandwiches to a hunting party before they set out, 1972.<\/p>\n

John Dominis\/LIfe Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n \"\"<\/p>\n
\n

Joy Potts carried water from a stream to use for cooking and cleaning at the Idaho hunting camp that she and her husband ran, 1972.<\/p>\n

John Dominis\/LIfe Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n \"\"<\/p>\n
\n

Joy Potts took a bath in water heated from a stove at the Idaho hunting camp that she and her husband Stan ran, 1972.<\/p>\n

John Dominis\/LIfe Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n \"\"<\/p>\n
\n

Stan Potts chopped firewood at the hunting camp run by him and his wife Joy, 1972.<\/p>\n

John Dominis\/LIfe Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n \"\"<\/p>\n
\n

Joy and Stan Potts, 1972.<\/p>\n

John Dominis\/LIfe Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n \"\"<\/p>\n
\n

Joy and Stan Potts would leave their three daughters, ages 11, 12 and 17, at the family alfalfa farm for months at a time while they went off to run their hunting camp.<\/p>\n

John Dominis\/LIfe Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The post A Joyful Thanksgiving and a \u201cMarriage Experiment\u201d<\/a> appeared first on LIFE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1972 LIFE magazine ran a cover feature on what it termed \u201cMarriage Experiments.\u201d The issue featured several examples of nontraditional domestic units. These ranged from a collective family in Berkeley, California to unmarried parents living in the Boston suburbs. If the Boston couple doesn\u2019t sound all that experimental, keep in mind that this was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.violetsinvogue.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.violetsinvogue.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.violetsinvogue.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.violetsinvogue.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.violetsinvogue.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.violetsinvogue.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":442,"href":"http:\/\/www.violetsinvogue.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions\/442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.violetsinvogue.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.violetsinvogue.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.violetsinvogue.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.violetsinvogue.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}