The Story of a Man!

There once was a man, a very hard working man This man's family was poor and he thus dropped out of high school in order to work full time to help support his family. The man met a girl and they fell in love. When she was 16 years old and he was 18, he went to her parents and asked if they could be married. Her parents agreed with one condition that she continue school. They married on October 31 and began a life together. Although the man was not formally educated, he was very smart and set out to make a better life for himself. He did what he knew best which was farming, producing crops such as soybeans, watermelons and wheat. His business knowledge flowed out positively through the way he ran the business.

He and his wife began a family after about four years of marriage, first with a daughter, then a son three years later. Would two children be all? As it is told, the man wanted one more, so the wife made a deal that if she could quit work then why not have another baby, so five years later they had their third child a daughter. This was your typical family who loved and laughed and worshipped together. But don't think it was a perfect family, because it certainly wasn't! The man can be remembered sitting in his chair looking out the window "thinking". He was a worrier, who was always concerned about the crops in the field or the weather outside that could hamper the crops. You see, this man had set a goal early in his life to save money for his family's future and sometimes that's a difficult thing to do with farming. Slowly but surely he was meeting that goal. He never wanted to forget where he came from but he often said he never wanted his family to have to make some of the sacrifices he had had to make.

One hot summer day, the man and his friend were going to look at one of his fields planted with soybeans The man was driving and did not notice the oncoming train before crossing the track. Their truck was struck and his friend died instantly. The man lived 12 hours. At 11:30 p.m. on July 16, 1982, the world lost the man who can be remembered as hardworking, loyal, honest, devoted, a friend, husband and father. This was not just any man, this man was my Daddy, Mayo Ponder. I am honored to have had him as my father and still miss him today. However, I am forever impacted by and thankful for the lessons he taught me in those precious years. One day we will meet again, but until then...

Happy Father's Day, Daddy and I love you!

Kelly