Mary Pond

97, went home to Jesus, her Lord and Savior, on July 11, 2020, from her home at Rancho Village in Palmdale after a very brief battle with an inoperable intestinal blockage. Mary was born December 27, 1922, in Alhambra, California, grew up in Pasadena, and graduated from Pasadena City College. Following graduation she worked for the Social Security Administration. She then enlisted in the U.S. Navy WAVES, serving in San Diego as a yeoman during World War II, and hoped to use the GI Bill benefits afterward to earn her bachelor’s degree. However, in 1946, immediately after the war, she married Murray Pond in Pasadena, where they settled for the next 8 years, going back to work for the Social Security Administration until they started a family. She never did get the chance to realize her dream of going back to college. They moved to Palmdale in 1954 when Murray became the manager of the Palmdale Irrigation District. She continued to live in the Antelope Valley for the rest of her life, another 66 years, most of it in Palmdale except for a 17-year stint in Quartz Hill.

Mary loved music, especially singing, and was blessed with a beautiful voice. Singing and music were a large part of her life from her youth. She sang in church choirs from a young age, was the church youth choir director, was honored to be asked to be a choir director at a youth choir camp, often joined her sisters to sing as a trio, and frequently performed as a soloist for church services, weddings and funerals. In Palmdale she was a member of Mother Singers and the co-founder of the Palmdale Civic Chorus with which she performed for many years. Her social life revolved around music as well. She was part of a group of couples, which they called the Music Group, that gathered once a month to enjoy a potluck and performing music for each other. Later in life she picked up a new talent by joining the church handbell choir. She passed her love and knowledge of music on to her children for which they are truly grateful.

In addition to her music, her deep faith in God was a huge facet of her life. She was an incredibly involved member of several churches over her lifetime: Pasadena Holliston Methodist, Palmdale Presbyterian, Lancaster Presbyterian, and Palmdale Methodist, serving, in addition to her many musical contributions, as a Sunday School teacher, deacon, elder, clerk of session, and member of many church groups including the Holliston Youth, Woman’s Circles, Bible studies and couples fellowship.

Throughout her life she held various positions as a secretary and/or bookkeeper but she is most known and remembered for the many years she spent at Palmdale High School as the Student Body Bookkeeper until her retirement (1969 – 1993). Earlier she assisted Milan Pond (Murray’s father) in his accounting/tax business and Murray in their service station/auto repair business and then worked at RC Milling in Littlerock. She enjoyed being an active member of Beta Sigma Phi (holding all the various officer positions many times) and helping with Kiwanis and Kiwaniannes activities. She was a staunch Republican, often volunteering to help round up the vote and later in life as a poll worker on election days.

Mary was cheerful, kind and generous, a good listener, and a wonderful, thoughtful, caring, and loving mother, grandmother, aunt and friend. She is best remembered for her lovely smile, joyful and positive attitude, and her collection of crosses, which she enjoyed picking from every day to complete her outfits. For years you would never see Mary anywhere without her knitting bag until carpal tunnel put a halt to her being able to enjoy her passion. She knitted and donated numerous afghans for Veterans and infant hats for the hospital. She also enjoyed her family and friends, gardening, word and jigsaw puzzles. She loved the beach and camping (initiated by her father, a Boy Scoutmaster, who often took the family camping during her childhood, although mostly in the mountains to her chagrin). However, she and Murray did spend their honeymoon at the beach and our family went on annual beach camping trips for many years even into our adulthood. She also loved rainbows, balloons, smiley faces, butterflies, hummingbirds, and most of all, elephants, of which she had a huge collection.

Mary is now reunited with Murray, her loving husband of 67 years until his passing in 2013, her parents Edgar Charles and Lydia Morton (Lutgerding) Hutchinson and all her siblings, Edgar Charles Hutchinson, Jr., Lydia June Hartwell, and Roberta Mae Garland. The family is happy to think of the three sisters together again, singing in harmony. She leaves behind her three children, daughter Kathie and her husband Paul Beckman and their daughter Lauren, daughter Shari and her husband Joe Ciasulli and their sons Rocky and JD (and fiancé Chelsey), and son Larry, as well as many nieces and nephews and their children. We already miss her strong faith, never-ending smile, generosity, sunny disposition, and companionship.

Due to the current COVID restrictions on gatherings, a memorial service/celebration of life will be streamed online starting Wednesday, August 19 at 7:30 pm (or join at 7:00 to view a slideshow of her life) and available for playback thereafter. To watch, search YouTube for “Palmdale UMC.”

If you would like to contribute a short video memory or story to her celebration, please call the church at 661-947-3103 for more information.

Interment will be at Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego for both Mary and Murray following a Committal Service with Military Honors held with limited attendance due to COVID restrictions.

In lieu of flowers, please consider giving to the Palmdale United Methodist Church in Mary’s name. You can send a check to 39055 N 10th Street W, Palmdale, CA 93551, or text “PalmdaleUMC” to 77977 then follow the prompts to give, selecting the drop-down choice “Mary Pond Memorial.”