Adelaide Wallace Ponder

A native of Madison, she was born April 16, 1925, the daughter of the late Leonard Dewey and Anne Douglas Wallace of Madison.

She graduated with honors from Wesleyan College. She and her husband, the late William Graham Ponder, Sr., purchased the local newspaper, The Madisonian, in 1957. She served as Editor and Mr. Ponder as Publisher of the progressive and award-winning newspaper that helped guide Madison and Morgan County through both tumultuous and flourishing periods over four decades. She and Mr. Ponder were also editor and publisher of the Lake Oconee Free Press.

An arts enthusiast, she was instrumental in the establishment of the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center and served on its Board of Trustees in a number of capacities, including Vice Chairperson and Program chairperson. She and Mrs. Roy Lambert were co-chairs of the Building committee for the Morgan County Foundation, Inc., sponsor of the Cultural Center, and accepted the Governor’s Award in the Arts, which was presented to the Center in 1978.

Governor Zell Miller presented Mrs. Ponder the Governor’s Award in the Humanities for longtime cultural leadership.

Mrs. Ponder was appointed by the Madison Bicentennial Committee in 2001 to join a fundraising committee for a legacy project, which was determined as the Madison Towne Park. She and her friend, Christine Lambert, raised over one million dollars for the construction of the park, which was dedicated in December, 2009.

A 1946 graduate of Wesleyan College, she served on the Board of Trustees of the college and was awarded the Distinguished Alumnae Award. She served on the Board of Visitors at the University of Georgia and was one of the first women named to the Henry W. Grady School of Journalism Mass Communications Advisory Board. She also was an instructor in News-Editorial Sequence at the Grady School.

She and Mr. Ponder were actively involved in the Georgia Press Association. She was chairperson of the Georgia Press Institute and the Georgia Press Cracker Crumble. During her tenure as editor of The Madisonian and Lake Oconee Free Press, the papers won numerous state and national awards.

A true civic leader, Mrs. Ponder was co-chair of the Madison Beautification Committee, credited with arousing an interest in city restoration and beautification, promoting tourism and revising local economy. She served on numerous committees of the Madison-Morgan Chamber of Commerce, Madison Downtown Development Authority, the Morgan County Bi-Racial Commission and the Georgia Commission on Abused Children. She was an organizer of the Magnolia and Boxwood Garden Clubs and Morgan County Historical Society and a founding board member of the Madison-Morgan Conservancy. She was a member of the Board of Managers of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.

Mrs. Ponder was a member of the National Society Colonial Dames of America and served in many committee capacities, including Town Committee Chair, State Vice President and State Historian. She was the State Lady of Dumbarton, wrote the Georgia history for the Colonial Dames and won the Medal of Honor for The National Society of Colonial Dames.

Mrs. Ponder was preceded in death by her husband, William Graham Ponder, Sr., her parents, Leonard Dewey and Anne Douglas Wallace, her sister and brother-in-law, Barrett and Anne Wallace Walker and a brother-in-law, Paul H. Ponder, Jr.

She is survived by her children, Anne Ponder Young (Charles) of Madison; Mary Graham Ponder Foster (Jim) and Douglas Ponder Suto of St. Simons Island and William Graham Ponder, Jr. (Dana) of Atlanta. Her grandchildren are Beth Tamplin Jones (Arthur) of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands; Mary Anne Tamplin Leathers (Hano) of Nashville, TN; Harold David Tamplin, Jr. (Rachel) of Wimberley, TX; William Suto of San Diego, CA; Ponder and John Suto of Athens, GA; Graham Foster of Ashville, NC; Adelaide Ponder of Atlanta; and Darla Pennington of Madison. Great-grandchildren are Evan and Adelaide Jones of St. John, U.S Virgin Islands; Charles, William and Raine Tamplin of Wimberley, TX; and Dustin Pennington of Madison. She is also survived by her brothers, Leonard Wallace of Madison and William Wallace (Joanne) of Atlanta and a sister-in-law, Margaret Nix Ponder of Atlanta.

Visitation is Friday, May 22 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Church of the Advent Parish Hall. A memorial service is Saturday, May 23 at 11 a.m. at the Episcopal Church of the Advent, Madison, with a reception following.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Church of the Advent, Madison, GA and the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center.

The family would like to express a special appreciation to Mrs. Ponder’s caregivers, Gloria Spaulding, Eleanor Hobbs, Pat Hobbs, Alberta Spaulding and Tanisha Brown.

Edo Miller and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. www.edomillerandsons.com