She was born March 15, 1926 at Cowen, Colorado to Vernie Frank Crum and Esther Leora Crum (Terrill). On July 2, 1943, she married the love of her life, Walter Poncelow. They were married for 67 years. She was in every way his true helpmate and companion – a Proverbs 31 woman. Together they raised four sons, strengthened the communities in which they lived and were pillars of their church. They were long time caretakers of the Colorado Christian Service Camp (Camp Como), vital to everything from construction and expansion to mission and operation. As in all they did, they deferred recognition, gave honor to others, and let God have the glory.
Louise and Walt never pursued and never had much material wealth. Nonetheless, their home was rich with love, overflowing with joy, and a place of abundant laughter and unreserved generosity. Louise was the mom everyone wanted to have as their own. She was the consummate grandmother – painter, baker, sewer, fixer, builder, inventor, and an informal curator of the world, who seemed to know every bird and flower, who knew where the fish were hiding, where to see a robin’s egg, where the doe had sheltered her fawn. And one would be hard pressed to imagine anyone who could delight more in her great grandchildren.
She will be remembered for her skill with a scroll saw, her chocolate chip cookies, dilly bread and sweet pickles, her expansive garden, her elaborate wedding cakes, her springtime snake hunts, her quilts and afghans, and her perfect hand of cribbage. But mostly, she will be remembered as a person who found early on what truly mattered, embraced it fully, and allowed it to guide and nurture her, to grow and empower her life, through every joy and sorrow, until she came to rest in the arms of Jesus.
