Helen Ponder

Helen Louis Ponder, a resident of Charleston, Mo., died Thursday, Aug. 21, 2003, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau.

She was born Dec. 9, 1932, in Canalou, the daughter of Willie and Delphia Pierce Elderbrook.

A graduate of Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, she began her teaching career on an Indian reservation in Arizona and later taught in Oklahoma and Mississippi before moving to Mississippi County in Missouri. There she taught in the Charleston R-1 School District.

She was a member of the First Baptist Church in Charleston. She also was a member of the Retired Teachers Association, and a past member of the Women's Improvement Club in East Prairie, Mo., and the Charleston Business and Professional Women's Club.

She is survived by two sons, Rudy Ponder of Sikeston, Mo., and John Ponder of East Prairie; a sister, Gwen Falkner of Jerseyville, Ill.; six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents, a brother and two sisters.

Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday at the McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston.

Services will be at 3 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home with the Rev. Gerald Collier, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Charleston, officiating.

Burial will be at the Dogwood Cemetery.