Dr. John C. Ponder

John was born in 1950 in Fort Worth, Texas, to Bill Mayfield Ponder and Verda Fay Slater Ponder. He was married to his wife, Linda, for 52 years. At the time of his death, they had lived in Colleyville, Texas for 36 years. John was an ENT surgeon who practiced for 35 years, most of that time in Grapevine, Texas. He was father to Mason and Adrienne Ponder.

John grew up in Texas. His family lived in Victoria during the early 1950s and later moved to McAllen where they lived until 1964. It was in the third grade that John took up the piano. He progressed rapidly and resolved to become a concert pianist, taking formal lessons for the next twelve years.

John’s family moved to Houston after 1964, and John graduated from Waltrip High School in 1968. He attended the University of Houston on a music scholarship for one year, then transferred to the University of North Texas (then North Texas State Teachers College). He married his wife, Linda Ruth Clendennen, in 1971 in Dallas, where Linda worked for the Medicare Division of Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance. Realizing that a career as a concert pianist would not be attainable, John dropped out of school, and the couple moved back to Houston in the summer of that year. Before moving, he worked briefly in construction in Dallas and was assigned at one point to the new Texas Stadium in Irving, sweeping fallen insulation from around the stadium seats. In later years Linda would tell the kids that John had helped build the stadium, then share a laugh at what his real job was.

John briefly resumed his studies at the University of Houston, then went to work, fulltime, to put Linda through Dental Hygiene school at the University of Texas Dental Branch. During those two years, he worked for Hughes Tool Company, starting out as a welder on the night shift and finishing his time there as a scheduler in the office. After Linda graduated, they moved to Austin where he attended the University of Texas. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BS in Biology in 1976. While attending UT he decided to apply to medical school and was accepted at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He completed medical school in 1979 and chose to specialize in ear, nose and throat surgery, doing his residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Dallas. In 1985, he accepted a position in the private practice of Dr. Charles Railsback and Dr. John Marchbanks, ENT specialists in Bedford, Texas, between Dallas and Fort Worth. The practice grew and more partners joined over the years. He became the senior partner after the departure of Dr. Marchbanks and the retirement of Dr. Railsback. His own retirement was well earned after many productive years.

John continued to study piano as his beloved pastime. He played almost daily, especially after retirement. In 1999 he auditioned for and was accepted to the First Van Cliburn Amateur Piano Competition in Fort Worth. This was an opportunity of a lifetime for John and it fulfilled what was until then an unrealized dream of performing before an audience. He received special recognition for his performance.

During the years of his and Linda’s education – following the example of John’s brother, Glenn Ponder – John and Linda would frequently take backpacking trips to the San Juan mountains of Southwestern Colorado in the Weminuche Wilderness area. As Linda recalls, it was “character building” to say the least, but the memories of those beautiful trips, just the two of them, will be cherished. John also backpacked with his brother and his colleague John Marchbanks. One special backpacking trip was with his son, Mason, to Chicago Basin between Durango and Silverton, Colorado. Other trips with the kids included Glacier National Park in Montana, where one close encounter with a bear made a lasting impression on their young minds. No one got hurt!

John took up woodworking a few years before he retired. His father was a carpenter and John absorbed much of his knowledge from him. He built some beautiful, functional pieces, but also turned bowls and fashioned perfect wooden balls for the joy of seeing and appreciating the different wood grains. (Cue Howdy Doody). He kept an eye out for wood piles from fallen trees to add to his stock of native Texas wood types.

John and Linda have two children. Mason, born in 1982, and Adrienne, born in 1985. He was a doting and proud father. Early years with the kids were spent snow skiing and rollerblading. He learned how to rollerblade at age 40 and spent hours doing that with them. Both children inherited his love of music, though not always the classical kind. His son, Mason, especially became proficient with several instruments. Adrienne played flute and piccolo in the school band and took up the banjo briefly. John loved the outdoors and spent time with the family hiking in Texas. He was an avid bird watcher and could identify birds for the kids. Two of his favorite areas in Texas for birding were Canyon of the Eagles on Lake Buchanan near Burnet, Texas, and the state parks in East Texas in the Big Thicket where his parents lived. He swam with the kids in the summers and shared hot tub conversations when the weather was icy, as it has been recently. There are videos of them trying to “drown” him in the pool and wrestling with him on the floor.

John was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his wife, Linda, son Mason and daughter Adrienne of Colleyville: his only brother Glenn Ponder and his wife Chris, their children Will Ponder and Mylea Ponder of Darby, Montana: sister-in-law Beverly Clendennen McNulty and husband Cootie of Montgomery, their children Kelly Valenzuela and daughter Cora of Colorado, Kamron McNulty and wife Amanda, their children Tristan and Parker of Spring, TX: sister-in-law Angie Clendennen, her son Daniel and wife Anna, their children Zoey, Emily and Carl of Katy, Texas: nephews Darrell Clendennen and Tommy Kain and their families: numerous Ponder cousins, and a host of other relatives and friends.

Family request donations to American Red Cross; donations can be done online at www.redcross.org

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.bluebonnethills.com for the Ponder family.