Colleen Marshall Potts-Giardina's Obituary
Colleen Marshall Giardina (nee Potts), 49, of Leesburg, Virginia passed away after a most courageous battle with cancer on July 15, 2025, at INOVA Hospital Fairfax, Va.
Funeral services will be held at 1 PM, July 23, 2025, at St. James’ Episcopal Church in Leesburg, VA with the Reverend Doctor Chad Martin officiating. Arrangements are by the Loudoun Funeral Chapel.
Colleen was born in Leesburg, VA to Patricia and Larry Potts on June 15, 1976. She graduated from Loudoun County High School in Leesburg, Va. During her high school years, she danced with the Loudoun Ballet Company and for several of those years she danced the lead role as the Sugar Plum Fairy in their annual Nutcracker Ballet. She graduated from Radford University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and while there performed in many of the University’s ballet presentations. During her senior year she danced professionally with the Columbia City Ballet Company while completing her college studies. She then danced with the Annapolis Ballet Company, which is where she met the love of her life at the U.S. Naval Academy. She married U. S. Marine Corps Officer Walter Bartholomew Giardina on March 25, 2000, and thus began the military portion of her life. While Walter was stationed in California, Colleen danced professionally with the California Ballet Company in San Diego, CA. She advanced to the position of soloist with that company and continued to dance when Walter went off to the Iraq war. Upon his return from Iraq, they were stationed on the East Coast and began their family with the birth of their first son, Jack. Upon Walter’s completion of service with the USMC he joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a Special Agent. Their second son, Mark, was born during their assignment in Pittsburgh, PA.
Colleen was steadfast during Walter’s four overseas deployments, three of which were combat assignments. Colleen was actually visiting Walter overseas during the last days of peace in September 2001. She flew home from Okinawa on 9/11 - it happened when she was in the air and Colleen was on the last plane to land in America. She took care of Walter and their sons during his deployments in the invasion of Iraq in 2003, in Afghanistan during the surge in 2011, and again to Iraq in 2020. Colleen got her ballerina friends to write and send pictures to all the single Marines in Walter’s unit. That made Walter extremely popular with the Marines, and they saved his life more than once. This anecdote says a lot about Colleen, and the Marines.
Colleen taught ballet classes at the Ashburn Academy of Dance and also became certified to teach Darby’s Dancers, a program for special needs dancers, which in addition to her family became her passion. She was a caring and nurturing presence for her students, at all levels, as well as possessing the talent and experience she desired to pass along to others.
She is preceded in death by her grandparents James and Mary Cummings and Harry and Louise Potts.
She is survived by her husband Walter Giardina, her sons Jack Allen Giardina and Mark Lee Giardina, her brother and sister-in-law Carter and Lisa Potts, her niece Hannah Potts, her sister Cameron Potts, her nephew Kaelin Grady, and her parents Patricia Cummings Potts and Larry Allen Potts.
Memorials in lieu of flowers may be given to Darby’s Dancers, https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/donation-in-honor-of-colleen-giardina.
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