Margaret Sluder Ponder

MARGARET SLUDER PONDER WEAVERVILLE - Margaret Sluder Ponder, age 90, of 15 Harbeck Drive, died Wednesday, January 15, 2014. Mrs. Ponder was born August 15, 1923 in the Leicester community of Buncombe County. She married Vance Ponder in 1950 and they moved to Weaverville in 1951. She retired after 30 years from the National Climatic Data Center. Margaret was a lifelong member of Mountain View Freewill Baptist Church and until three weeks ago taught the ladies Sunday class, which she had taught over 50 years. She also sang in the choir. In 1978 Margaret and her brother Joe founded the Sluder Family Reunion which this year will be 37 years. She was known as the family historian, and was a former member of the Buncombe County Genealogical Society. A daughter of the late Reverend Daniel Ervin and Hester DeWeese Sluder, she was also preceded in death by her husband of 59 years, Arval Vance Ponder; brothers, Robert, Donald, George, and Rev. Jennis Sluder and sisters, Lois Nesbitt and Bonnie Alexander. Surviving are her daughters, Rebecca "Becky" Ponder and Kathey Ponder both of Weaverville; "adopted" granddaughter, Traci Smith Van Ooteghem and husband Jay and their sons Jaxson and Tyler of Weaverville; brothers, Joe Sluder and wife Kathleen of Weaverville and Elbert Sluder and wife Gerald of Hendersonville and several special nieces and nephews. Her funeral service will be held at 2:30 p.m., Sunday, January 19, 2014, in Mountain View Freewill Baptist Church with Reverends Anthony Fox, Randy Sluder, and Paul Sluder officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery. The family will receive friends 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., Saturday at West Funeral Home, 17 Merrimon Ave., Weaverville where the body will remain until placed in the church one hour prior to service. At other times the family will be at the residence. Flowers are welcome or memorials in her honor may be made to Mountain View Freewill Baptist Church Cemetery Fund, c/o Earl Clark, 404 Ridgeview Road, Leicester, NC 28748. For those who desire, condolences may be offered to the family under Mrs. Ponder's obituary at www.WestFamilyFuneralServices.com. The address for the church is: 765 Alexander Road, Leicester, NC 28748. Her funeral service will be held at 2:30 p.m., Sunday, January 19, 2014, in Mountain View Freewill Baptist Church with Reverends Anthony Fox, Randy Sluder, and Paul Sluder officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery. The family will receive friends 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., Saturday at West Funeral Home, 17 Merrimon Ave., Weaverville where the body will remain until place in the church one hour prior to service. At other times the family will be at the residence. The address for the church is: 765 Alexander Road, Leicester, NC 28748.