Longtime Sand Springs educator Louise Pond dies at 58
BY TIM STANLEY World Staff Writer
Saturday, February 23, 2013
2/23/13 at 6:12 AM
SAND SPRINGS - Louise Pond had taught English but not math. Yet the numbers - 1,200 students to one principal - still must have struck her as a little one-sided.
After taking over the top post at Clyde Boyd Middle School in Sand Springs, however, the former teacher immediately began to show great facility for evening the odds.
Pond "was able to focus on the kids that were having the most struggles and help get them with the right people and organize the right intervention while at the same time keeping up with the brightest of the bright," Superintendent Lloyd Snow said.
It wasn't easy, not with a staff to oversee and all the other matters that fall within a principal's purview.
But as Snow learned quickly when he first met Pond 13 years ago, "Louise was one of those 'all-in' kinds of people."
And that was something about her that did not change, whatever the circumstances.
Louise Pond, a lifelong Sand Springs resident who had worked for 34 years for Sand Springs Public Schools, died Feb. 17 of complications from a liver transplant. She was 58.
A service is set for 10 a.m. Saturday at Olivet Baptist Church in Tulsa under the direction of Mobley-Dodson Funeral Service.
Diagnosed with liver failure in July, Pond came close to dying before an organ became available and she received a last-minute transplant.
As she recovered, she took heart as her school rallied behind her.
"When I visited her in the hospital, all she could talk about was how she missed her kids and her staff," Snow said.
Pond had known Sand Springs schools from just about every possible angle. She graduated from Charles Page High School in 1973.
She returned in 1978 as a teacher after obtaining bachelor's and master's degrees from Oklahoma State University.
Over the next three decades, she taught English, as well as some history and drama.
She was also an active sponsor of many groups, among them the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the cheerleading squad.
Pond, who became Clyde Boyd's principal in 2010 after serving as the assistant principal, had gone from "being a solid, master teacher who set high expectations and was very successful to a great member of my leadership team as an administrator," Snow said.
As principal over Clyde Boyd's student body of 1,200, she had found her place, she believed.
Pond, who did not have children of her own, "absolutely wanted to know each and every student at that school," her husband, Allen Pond, said.
Dropping by her office to talk about a particular child, teachers were often surprised to learn "that Louise not only knew them, she knew the parents, the grandparents, where they lived, you name it," he said.
As principal, she remained very much involved in the kids' lives, Allen Pond said, adding, "She wanted each and every one of them to reach their full potential."
An active member of Kappa Kappa Iota teacher sorority, Pond had been the president of the Tulsa council and secretary of the state council.
Survivors include her husband of 32 years, Allen Pond; and a sister, Sue Neal.
Original Print Headline: Longtime Sand Springs educator put students first
Tim Stanley 918-581-8385
tim.stanley@tulsaworld.com
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Louise Pond: She wanted to be acquainted with every student in her school, and teachers who dropped by her office to talk about a particular child were often surprised to learn "that Louise not only knew them, she knew the parents, the grandparents, where they lived, you name it," her husband said.
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