Whakaotihia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I tutaki ia ki a Helen Poteat i a ia i Wake Forest. Ko ia te tamahine a Dr. William Louis Poteat, te perehitini o te whare wananga, me te tuahine o te kaiwhakaako tawhito a Stallings. He hoa aroha rātau i ngā tau katoa o te kura. I puta ia i te Whare Wananga o Wake Forest i te tau 1916, ka whiwhi mahi ki te tuhi tuhinga whakatairanga mo tetahi tari whakauru a rohe. I tino whakaponohia ia e tana ake tuhinga, i uru atu ia ki te United States Marine Reserve i te tau 1917. I wehe ia i Philadelphia mo te mahi i tawahi i Parani i runga i te USS "Henderson" i te 24 o Aperira 1918. I Parani, i mahi ia hei kaihauturu pluton me te 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines i te wa o te whawhai i Château-Thierry. I whara ia i te waewae i te
Te Pakanga o Belleau Wood i muri i te whakaekenga o te whare pupuhi a te hoariri i te 25 o Pipiri. I muri i tana inoi ki nga taote kia kaua e tapahia, ka hoki ia ki te kāinga ki te noho mamae i nga tau e rua i te Whare Hauora o Brooklyn. I muri mai ka pakaru i a ia i te hinganga i runga i te huka, a ka tapahia i te tau 1922. He maha nga tau i muri mai, me tapahi ano tona waewae e toe ana. I muri i te mutunga o tana whakaoranga, i marena a Stallings raua ko Poteat i te Poutu-te-rangi 8, 1919; e rua nga tamahine a Sylvia (whanau i te tau 1926) me Diana (whanau i te tau 1931), i mua i te wehenga i te tau 1936. I te 1928-1929, i whakahoutia e ratou te Whare Poteat e tata ana ki Yanceyville, North Carolina. Na roto i a Helen ko tana kuia ma te marena ko te kaitoi a Ida Isabella Poteat.