Onie Ponder, American supercentenarian died she was , 112.

Onezima Cecelia "Onie" (née Chazal) Ponder  was an American supercentenarian. At the age of 112 years, 119 days, she was the 21st oldest person in the world at her death on December 31, 2010 and the oldest living person in the U.S state of Florida.^[2]

(September 3, 1898 – December 31, 2010)

 Family

Onezima Cecelia "Onie" (Chazal) Ponder was born in Ocala, Florida on September 3, 1898. She was born to Isabel Juliana "Nita" (Hickman) Chazal (her mother) and Louis Richard Amedee Chazal (her father) at home on the corner of Ft. King and Herbert Street (now Wenona) . At the age of two, Ponder moved into a house diagonally across the street from the house she was born in. She remembers that that new house had nine rooms and indoor plumbing, which was a big deal back then as many people still used outhouses. As a child, Ponder and her seven siblings were rarely bored. Ponder said, "we used to have a lot of fun just among ourselves; we didn't need a bunch of folks coming over to entertain us."^[3] According to Ponder, she had a wonderful family life as a child. Growing up, Ponder clearly remembers seeing Halley's Comet soar through the sky, and was 13 when the Titanic sank. She remembered when automobiles first rolled into town, and lived in America during World War One. Her parents stressed doing well in school, so she was sent to boarding school in Columbia, South Carolina, when she was 14. After graduating from St. Genevieve's boarding school in Asheville, North Carolina in 1916, Ponder went to the University of Florida to study accounting, graduating in 1922.^[4]

Career

Onie Ponder worked all of her life, and spent much of it as a bookkeeper. During World War One, Ponder did her part by selling war bonds throughout the war. Although Ponder enjoyed working all of her life, she says that the best time she spent was with her kids. In 1920, when Ponder was 21, women were given the right to vote for the first time. Ponder voted in every election since, except for once when she was giving birth to her son Carswell. In the 2008 election, she voted for Barack Obama.

In Later years

Onie Ponder lost her sight to macular degeneration in her early 100's. At 106, Ponder was hit by a car, and then recovered. Ponder lived in Ocala, the city in which she was born, until her death in 2010. At the age of 110, the only medication Ponder took was two pills once per day. Although blinded, Ponder was still in relatively good health. In an interview with Ponder, she said, "I just love living every day and doing the best I can.” Onie Ponder embraced living day by day, and in an interview for Growing Bolder television in 2008, she said, "I don't dream, I believe in reality. I live one day at a time because, believe me, one day is enough."^[5] Ponder enjoyed listening to historical audio books from the blind center. She listened to more than 200 of them.^[6] Ponder credited her longevity to her active youth, “I walked everywhere. I had to; we didn’t have any cars.”

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