Bob G. Ponds

Bob Ponds of Brandon, Mississippi, passed away peacefully at age 92 on Saturday, July 11, 2026, with his family beside him. Bob was born at home in Saltillo, Tennessee, on August 14, 1933, to Charlie A. Ponds Jr. and Maggie May Crider Ponds. Bob’s parents, brother Tommy Ponds, and wife of 70 years Barbara Elaine Ponds, preceded him in death.

Bob grew up in Millington, Tennessee, just north of Memphis, with his future wife, Elaine, and was good friends with her uncles, who were close in age. During the late 1940s in high school (the same one Elvis attended), Bob ran the movie projector in the town’s small theatre, painted signs (by hand) for local stores, crafted milkshakes as a soda jerk, and undoubtedly spent the rest of the time fishing. In their senior year, his friend Kenneth (Elaine’s uncle) received his draft letter from the United States Army for service in the Korean War. Anticipating getting a letter, too, Bob applied to join the Air Force, which at the time was taking very few applicants because of the draft. He was accepted, and a week later, he received a (then-moot) draft letter.

After training in San Antonio, he was stationed in Bossier City, Louisiana. Bob and Elaine were married in Hernando, Mississippi, in 1954, and he received orders to report to Newfoundland for two years. He served there for a period and then was re-stationed in Iceland for a shorter 6-month term, as he and Elaine were expecting their first child. Bob was then assigned to Eglin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, where their daughter, Vickie, was born in 1956.

Bob worked in the weather detachment unit near the base, and an assignment in Recife, Brazil, came available in 1959. The commander (whom Bob had taken bass fishing a few times) offered him the position, and off they went to South America. Their son, Pete, was born later that year, and they spent what Bob and Elaine described as the most exciting times of their lives there.

They returned to the United States in 1962 and were stationed at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, where by coincidence, Elaine’s sister, Rebecca, and her husband lived on the same base. In 1963, Bob pursued work with the National Weather Service in Jackson, Mississippi, after learning a new reservoir was being built there—and stocked with largemouth bass. He spent the next 25 years working in meteorology, including forecasting and briefing pilots on weather conditions for landings. Bob’s colleagues held him in very high regard for his sharp mind for mathematics, and they trusted his capabilities for leading and teaching his peers.

As the reservoir was developing in the mid 1960s, Bob was formative in the area’s bass-fishing gamesmanship. Over the years he became a well-known professional angler in the BASS ranks. He was part of a select group chosen to fish the first Bassmaster Classic on Lake Meade in 1971, and Bob fished in countless bass tournaments over the years, winning several awards and first-place trophies.

Bob began his own lure company around that time, and he and his son, Pete, worked together creating new lures and improving others. Bob was the original designer of many lures, including the Wing Ding, Skipper Shad, Foot-Loose, Rackit, and Spitz, that are on retail shelves today. He continued designing, inventing, and testing new lures throughout his life, and Bob was still putting in his boat by himself at Pelahatchie Bay until he was in his 80s. His enthusiasm for fishing spread to Pete, who has become an established professional bass fisherman.

Bob retired from the National Weather Service in 1988, which was the same year his grandson Justin (Pete’s son) was born. Bob and Elaine (or Granddaddy and Nanna) lived just a mile from Justin’s school and took care of him every afternoon from kindergarten through his freshman year. He poured himself into shaping Justin and guided him through his schoolwork and the daily newspaper, leading to his career as a lawyer.

During the latter part of his life, Bob embraced new technologies, always curious to understand how systems and hardware worked. He explained that having seen one of the first computers in 1959 take up the entire upper floor of the military’s airplane hanger, he remained intrigued by new inventions. He independently maintained his home and three-acre property with a vegetable garden and pond until his death. He was a humble man, always trying to be kind and helpful to his neighbors, who in turn shared friendship and company with him over the years.

Bob is survived by his daughter Vickie Lynne Watson (Tim), his son Robert “Pete” Ponds (Kim), and his grandson Justin Rey Ponds, step-granddaughter Laurin Vaughan (Tom), and step-great-grandchildren Gaige Agnew, Everett Vaughan, and Wesley Vaughan.

Bob lovingly joins his wife Elaine in heaven after having lived what he, himself, described as a wonderful and full life.

Visitation will be held on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Ott & Lee Funeral Home in Brandon, Mississippi, with a graveside service to follow at 12:00 p.m. at Lakeland Place Memorial Park Cemetery near his home.