Our wonderful friend, Harold Elvin Pontz, went home to be with Jesus, 10:26 am September 3rd, 2020. He was born June 24th, 1924 at home on Leaman Rd. East Lampeter Township, and attended East Lampeter School, and Bart Township School until the Eighth Grade. Harold then was signed out of school by his Father to work on the family farm. He farmed all his life. For many years, he and his Father, Elvin Pontz used draft horses to plow, cultivate, plant and harvest. His Mother, Wilda Althouse-Pontz, sewed their clothing, milked by hand, grew, and preserved most of what they ate and cooked on their Prizer cook stove. Harold was preceded in death by his Brother, Mark Ira Pontz at 3 years of age in 1935, his Father, Elvin George Pontz in 1972, and his Mother, Wilda Cassandra Althouse-Pontz in 1984.
Harold will be remembered as a wonderful neighbor, helping others with the use of his prized Allis-Chalmers and AGCO/ALLIS tractors which he worked hard to pay every penny of to make farming easier for himself as he aged. He farmed and kept his home until he turned 86 with the help of his neighbors, Gary, and Linda Stockin (and children) and Pete and Ginger Yost. He loved good home cooking, but not one ever cooked nearly as good as his Mother, whom he cared for until her passing. His was a simple and very homemade life, that did not include an indoor bath, central heat/cooling, and cable tv. After surviving a heart attack at 88, Harold lived with the Yost’s and began a whole different life, one filled with the Yost’s family, modern conveniences he had not known and traveling to experience many firsts in his life. Through the Yost’s Harold saw the ocean, rode in a car onto a ferry to an island, to see his first lighthouse, owned a 1924 model T Ford, vacationed in the mountains, and knew the love of a large extended family. These were all things Harold had not experienced before. He will be remembered and missed by his friends as a man who loved all things farming and a lively political debate over coffee with Ralph Yost, Sr. and John Yost, his good friends. Harold would regularly drive to see Mr. and Mrs. Harold Singer, and visit Ed and Marion Rohrer, and their son Ed Rohrer, all who are meeting him in heaven. He was a life-long member of the St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, where he was confirmed in 1942, but in May, 2013, Harold prayed in a prayer to commit his life to Jesus Christ and was sure of his salvation as he passed peacefully. Private interment in the Pontz Family Lot at the Strasburg Mennonite Cemetery will be announced on a future date. Comments are closed.
|
Categories
All
Archives
May 2024
|