Frank Donald Bondurant Sr.

On November 20, 2024 we lost our wonderful Pops (aka Dad, aka Jeepy, aka Frank). He was 86 years old and still driving, a regular at Loony’s Pub and the Moose Club, and he still had his horse betting and football bookie on his speed dial. Pops got his final wish when he died in the comfort and familiarity of the townhouse in Columbia, MD, the place he has called home for the last 25 years.

Pops was born in 1938 at Sibley hospital in Washington, D.C. He and his three sisters and two brothers were raised by a single mom. Pops was the baby of the family and really never knew his father. The family lived in a two bedroom apartment on Sligo Mill road that had no running water and no toilet and at times housed up to twelve people. Living through the great depression impacted Pops in how he would live his life, including never throwing anything away. He spent many of his summers at the house of his grandmother Nancy Guthrie in Farmville, Virginia. She was one of the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist church there. Pops and many of his siblings would, as adults, return to Farmville for an annual family reunion. They contributed many thousands of dollars to help fund this little country church in honor of their grandmother and the church cemetery where many of the family is buried.

He and his siblings walked four miles to school round trip (to hear him tell it, it was up hill both ways). He attended John Nevins Andrews elementary school, a private school run by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The same school he would later send his son Frank and daughter Robin too. (all those years later the same legendary school principal Miriam Tymeson was still there, she remembered Pops very well!)

Elementary school was the extent of Pop’s formal education. He had to go to work to help put food on the table for his family. As a kid he sold lilac bunches on the street, and at age 10 he worked at the local A&P grocery store sweeping the floor and transporting groceries in a wagon. As he grew older he operated his own Jack & Jill Ice Cream cart. As an adult he was a member of the Local 400 working 8 years at A&P grocery store and another 22 years at Consumer’s COOP in Greenbelt, MD. Pops was always a hard worker, even working 3 jobs simultaneously (long days) to help make ends meet when he had his own children. Pops life long dream of owning his own business finally came true when he purchased the Country Corner Market, a small quick stop store in Croom, Maryland selling groceries, gas, cigarettes and alcohol. Pops became part of the local town and culture owning and operating the store for more than 30 years. He allowed customers to make purchases on credit and support local community causes.

Pops met Frances Delano Bondurant, a coal miner’s daughter from West Virigina and they were married March 20, 1959. The couple would raise two children; their son Frank, Jr. and a daughter Robin and they would reside in Prince George’s and Howard Country the bulk of their 48 years of marriage. Though he lacked a father’s role model in his own life, Pops was very engaged, involved and active in the raising and in the lives of his children. He and Frances (Fran) worked hard to provide a good life for their children and wanted to give them both the educational and life opportunities that had not been available to them. He was completely devoted to his wife and kids.

The saddest moments of Pop’s life was when he lost his mother, Bertha in 1972 due to cancer, his daughter Robin to non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2001 and then 5 years later his wife Fran due to heart disease. He experienced a great deal of hardship and grief in his life.

His happiest moments included taking family cruises to Bermuda, owning his own thoroughbred horses and watching them race, and enjoying the lives and accomplishments of his children and grandchildren.

Pops was a very generous man, a hard worker, and had a great sense of humor. He was loved by his neighbors, a local celebrity at Looney’s Pub, and the champion of the Superbowl betting squares at the Moose Club. He enjoyed a quiet and largely healthy retirement living in Columbia, Maryland. His last 12 years he lived with his son Frank and grandson Grant.

Pops is survived by his Brother; Lloyd William Bondurant and his wife Linda; Sister Thelma Swafford; Son Frank D. Bondurant, Jr. and his wife Nancy; Granddaughter Grace Christine Boone and her husband Schuyler; Grandson Grant Fox Bondurant, and Great Granddaughter Starlett Melody Boone

Pops will be greatly missed by everyone.

A Memorial Service will be held at the Witzke Funeral Home on Sunday, December 8, 2024. At 12:30 pm

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Farmville Seventh-day Adventist Church Cemetery Fund. 2086 Cumberland Rd, Farmville, VA 23901