A Mission Announcement

Hanna Jones (Doug's Grand-daughter, daughter of Julie) has received a mission call! 

Here is a beautiful video that she put together.

Happy Birthday Grandma Pond

September 12, 1908-May 31, 1981

It’s been almost 6 months since I posted a blog. I decided that Grandma Pond’ birthday is an excellent reason to reconnect as a family, since we celebrated Grandpa Pond’s birthday together.

Afton Bernice Fagg was born September 12, 1908, in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was the oldest child to survive birth of Charles William Fagg and Martha Sophia Price.  She had seven younger brothers and sisters. 

I don’t have many pictures of Bernice as a young child but here is one of her as a toddler, another one of her with her siblings about the time she was 8 years old, and one with her family when she was an adult.

Bernice, LaMar, Genevieve

Back row:  LaMar, Louise, Cenella, Bernice, Genevieve, Martha ( Mother), Stanley
From row: Carolyn, Grant

Her father was a butcher. The shop he owned with his brother was just across the street from their home on Highland Drive.  He was so skilled that he was asked by the Church to set up the butcher department at Welfare Square, where he worked for the rest of his career. As children, we would visit our grandparents every month and have many happy memories of playing in this house.

Bernice graduated from Granite High school.

Granite High School

Bernice attended the University of Utah with a major in journalism, but wasn’t able to graduate.  She loved writing and published short stories in magazines. 

She caught the eye of Alonzo Smith Pond, who moved into her ward after his mission with his family.  After a 3 year courtship they were married in the Salt Lake Temple on August 17, 1933.

They are the parents of 3 children:  Douglas William (Beth), Orem, UT, Virginia (Richard) Wheeler, San Jose, CA, and Donna (Weldon) Kitchen, Highland, UT.

Bernice loved being a stay-at-home mom.  The neighbor children all gathered at our home because of the fun activities she was always planning.

Her love for children well suited her as both ward and stake primary president.  Her she is with her stake primary presidency.

Smith & Bernice were totally dedicated to each other.  When Smith died of a heart attack on April 1, 1959, Bernice never looked at or dated another man.

 She returned to college, this time at BYU, and graduated in Elementary Education with a minor in Library Science.

She taught school at Grandview Elementary School in Provo for 7 years where she was the media specialist (librarian).  I have met several of her students years later who credit her with their love of music from the selections she played over the intercom each morning.

Ill health caused her to retire early.  She didn’t control her diabetes, and the disease affected her memory and her ability to care for herself.  Donna, thankfully was still at home, and was able to rent their home to girls attending BYU to pay for her care.  When Richard and Virginia Wheeler returned to Utah in order for Richard to obtain his PhD in Electrical Engineering, They took over Bernice’s care.  Then after Richard graduated, Bill and Donna Mayfield took care of her for the rest of her life.  She died in their home in Colorado Springs, CO, on May 31, 1981, of a stroke.  She is buried next to Smith in the Provo City Cemetery.

Afton Bernice Fagg Pond was an example of great patience, love and service to others.  She had a deep abiding love for our Savior and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  She was totally dedicated to her husband, Smith, and endured the trials she faced well until the very end.  Her posterity is greatly blessed for having her as their example.

Death. What a subject for a blog!

What is the story concerning Smith and Bernice’s deaths?

The year was 1959.  Douglas was 16 years old, Virginia was 12 years old, and Donna was 10 years old. The day was April 1^st (April Fool’s Day).  Smith had attended the Western Conference of Deans of Graduate Schools in California of which he was president.  When he returned home, he stopped by BYU High School to see Douglas and stopped at Wasatch Elementary School to pick up Virginia and Donna for lunch.  After the girls had returned to school, he and Bernice had a quiet moment together.  It would be their last in this life.

When Smith returned to the Brigham Young University campus, he went to the office of his good friend, Lester Whetten.  It was there that Smith died quickly and quietly of a heart attack.  His friend thought he was yawning.  He was probably trying to breathe. 

He died on a Wednesday.  He was buried the next Tuesday, 7 days later.  Bernice didn’t have time to make the arrangements before General Conference that weekend, and she refused to                                                                   bury him on his 54^th birthday, April 6^th. 

 Bernice was plagued with ill health for many years.  It was always expected that she would die first. She held on, many times realizing that her children were not grown and needed her.  In 1970, her diabetes got the best of her.  Her memory failed her.  The doctor who had diagnosed her diabetes seemed to forget that she had it, and the doctors in the 5 weeks she spent in the hospital couldn’t decide what was wrong with her.  They called it “cerebral atrophy”.  They said that her brain was decaying, but didn’t have any explanation for why.  Donna, the only child still living at home, was forced to put her in a care center.  After 9 months Donna changed to the doctor at the care center for her mom.  He discovered that her diabetes was at a deadly level, increased her insulin, and she returned home within the week.

The major care for Bernice came from Bill and Donna Mayfield.  Richard and Virginia Wheeler took care of her while Richard obtained his PhD in Electrical Engineering from BYU and at various times later.  Bernice regained quite a bit of her health.  She moved with Bill and Donna to San Diego, CA, Sherman, TX, and Colorado Springs, CO.  In Feb. 1981, Bernice developed Phlebitis in her leg and died on the operating table. The physicians brought her back to life, but she never regained her health.  She died of a stroke in her bed at home in Colorado Springs on May 31, 1981.

Both Smith and Bernice are buried in the Provo City Cemetery, Provo, Utah.  We will be visiting the gravesite Sat., Apr. 4, 2015.  You are invited to join us.  

Did you know?

Both Smith and Bernice were the oldest children in their families.

Alonzo Smith was the oldest of seven siblings.  His younger brothers and sisters are:  Karl Lamar (died in infancy), Eugene Calvin, Richard Smith, Catherine Elaine (died at 11 months old), Josephine, and Farrell Smith.  Did you notice that 3 of the boys had the same middle name: Smith.  Sarah Smith Pond was very proud of her Smith heritage and gave that name to 3 of her sons.  Alonzo Smith Pond was always called “Smith” to distinguish him from his father Moses Alonzo Pond who went by “Lon” or “M.A.”

 

Left to right:  Richard, Smith, and Calvin

  

Left to right:  Josephine, Farrell               

        

Afton Bernice had an older sister who was stillborn, so she was the oldest child to live to adulthood.  She always went by her middle name, Bernice, which was very common in that time period.  Her younger brothers and sisters are:  Genevee, Charles LaMar, Newell Stanley, Martha Louise,  Cenella Frances, Byron Grant, and Carolynn.  Three of her siblings also went by their middle names.

Here is Bernice on the porch with some of her siblings.  She is the one on the top left. Going clockwise from Bernice I believe her siblings are: Genevee, LaMar, Stanley, and Louise.

Here is Bernice’s family at a later time.

Charles and Martha Fagg, sitting

From left to right:  LaMar, Carolynn, Bernice, Genevee, Cenella, Louise, Grant, and Stanley

Here is Smith’s family:

Left to right:  Richard, Smith, Sarah, Calvin, M.A.

Front row: Farrell, Josephine

This is my favorite picture of Bernice as a child.  I have the original in my possession.

What did the young lovers look like?  They don’t have a wedding portrait, but I believe that this is Bernice’s engagement picture.

                                 Here is Smith at a similar age.

How about at the end of their lives?  There are many similar pictures of Smith taken in his last years.  They all look almost the same.

Here is Bernice as a teacher when she is in her late fifties.  She lived to the age of 72.

Smith died on April 1, 1959. It was the cruelest April Fools joke ever for Bernice, Douglas (age 17), Virginia (age 12), and Donna (age 10).  He died 5 days before his 54^th birthday. 

Here is one of the last pictures taken of the family before Smith died.  It was taken at a family reunion in the summer of 1958.

If you haven't already, make sure to mark your calendars for Friday, April 3, 2015

Come and celebrate Smith's 110th birthday!

Party from 5:00 -9:00 p.m

For those who are interested, there will be a

family sealing session at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple

Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 7:00 p.m.

Love, Donna

We're starting a family blog!

Who is this cute little girl?

It's NOT a girl! This is your grandpa (or) great grandpa, Alonzo Smith Pond.

Here he is again at the front door of his grandparent’s home in Salt Lake City, Utah.  If you head north on West Temple (to the west side of the conference center) and don’t turn, you will run into this house, which is still standing.  Check it out sometime you are by Temple Square.

Here is your grandmother (or) great grandmother, Bernice Pond.  Wasn’t she a cute toddler?

So why have we decided to start a blog?  This blog is for all the descendants of Smith and Bernice Pond.  Smith died in 1959, so the only family members still around who remember him are Doug, Virginia, and Donna.  Bernice died in 1981, so there aren’t very many family members who remember her either.  They never had the opportunity to share their stories with their grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great, great grandchildren, of whom there are currently (counting spouses) 106 family members.  So if you would like to know more about the people you came from, keep watch on this blog.  Please share it with family members who don’t have e-mail addresses and send us any e-mail addresses we are missing. Please feel free to add your comments and stories.

Why is the blog called “Puddles in the Pond”?  Smith organized a workshop each summer for the last years of his life to teach secondary teachers how to teach economics in their classrooms. (This is a picture of some of the workshop leaders.  Smith is on the left.) 

One evening at each of these workshops, the whole family was invited to dinner.  Doug, Virginia, and Donna were called “Puddles”.  The name stuck, and they were often called “Puddles” after that. Thus the name for our blog. 

 

If you visit the blog (at www.puddlesinthepond.blogspot.com) we've explained the blog name this way in the header. "Many little puddles come together to make a Pond. These are the stories and pictures of the Alonzo Smith and Afton Bernice Pond Family. Each one of us is a Puddle in the Pond." We, Donna Kitchen and Kate Wheeler, will be e-mailing you posts from the blog, but please feel free to follow the actual blog.  Link provided above 

What did the young family of Smith and Bernice look like?  Here they are with Doug about 12 years, old, Virginia about 7 years old and Donna about 5 years old.

IF SMITH POND WERE STILL ALIVE, 

HE WOULD BE TURNING 110 YEARS OLD ON APRIL 6, 2015!!!

We invite you to join us at a party celebrating this momentous event!

It will be held on Friday, April 3, 2015, at 5:00 p.m. (dinner at 6:00 p.m.) at the Days Meadows Chapel, 6050 W. Chapel Drive, Highland, UT 84003, across the street from Aunt Donna and Uncle Weldon's backyard. 

Please RSVP to Donna Kitchen (donna_kitchen@hotmail.com), Sandi Pond (pondsk@gmail.com), or Kate Wheeler (katiewheeler@gmail.com). There is also a facebook event which has been created for this party, let us know if you would like to get updates and information through facebook.