Friends from ‘round the corner’

It’s the little things that add up to being a good neighbor.

“If you see a need and can do something to help, you do it,” said Craig Weddle, 57, of Spokane Valley.

“That’s right,” said Weddle’s neighbor Frank Potter, 87. “You just help out without expecting anything in return.”

For almost 25 years Frank and June Potter and their “round the corner” neighbors, Craig and Sharon Weddle, have been helping each other out.

“The day we moved in back in 1983,” said Craig, regional market manager for Dex Media, “Frank and June came over and introduced themselves in typical Air Force fashion.”

Craig should know Air Force; he was raised in a military family. Both his father and Frank were pilots and served during roughly the same time.

Frank, a retired colonel, began his military service during World War II and flew C-54s in the Berlin Airlift.

After he retired in 1969, the Potters settled into their ranchstyle home near the Dishman Hills Natural Area.

The Weddles and Potters soon became good friends and over the years they have exchanged advice on remodeling projects, shared extra homegrown zucchini and shoveled snow off each another’s driveways.

“I’ve had a rough year medically,” Frank said, “so Craig has taken on our snow-removal task.”

Craig, however, doesn’t see the time he spends shoveling the Potters snow as a task he has to do.

“I’m living next door to a hero,” he said. “It’s a privilege to help out when I can.”

The comradeship runs both ways.

When Craig, a chief master sergeant in the Washington Air National, was activated for duty in Desert Storm and then again last year for Iraq, the Potters offered their support.

“I remember the day Craig left for Desert Storm,” Sharon Weddle said.

It was in 1990, just after Christmas and their daughter Megan was only nine months old.

“After we waved the plane off,” Sharon said, “I drove straight to Frank and June’s house. “It was a very daunting time for me and a comfort knowing they were there.”

The Potters’ military background has been an added bonus to the friendship.

“Sharon and I are basically civilians,” Craig said. “If Sharon would have any problem out at the base when I’m gone, Frank and June can help.”

The Potters were there again with their support in 2007 when Craig spent almost five months stationed with the 506th Air Expeditionary Group at Kirkuk Regional Air Base, 155 miles north of Baghdad.

“The whole time I was there, it was a relief to know there was someone with maturity watching over my family,” Craig said.

“For us, having Frank and June so close is like having grandparents next door for our children, Megan and Christopher,” he said.

“And yet,” June Potter added, “we haven’t lived in each other’s pockets. We are here but try not to be intrusive.”

One day last March, when Craig was out of town on a business trip, it was Sharon who was there for the Potters.

“Frank hadn’t been feeling right all day,” June recalled. “He was really hurting when Sharon stopped by to say hello.”

After taking one look at Frank, Sharon insisted on driving him to the hospital.

“It turned out that he had to have an immediate operation,” June said. “If Sharon hadn’t been here to help, I don’t know what I would have done.”

Sharon called it a “God thing.”

“I just happen to go over there at the exact time I was needed,” she said.