Keith William Ponder

1962 - 2025

Keith William Ponder, 63, of Tupelo, Mississippi, passed away on November 10, 2025, at North Mississippi Medical Center. Born June 13, 1962, in Newton, Iowa, Keith was the eldest son of Bill and the late Louise (Spake) Ponder. Keith is survived by his beloved wife of 40 years, Sharon (Jones) Ponder, their daughter Abby Ponder and their son Mitchell Ponder and his wife Lexy (Tays) Ponder. He is also survived by his father, Bill Ponder, and brothers Steve (Marcie) and Paul (Sue) Ponder along with several cherished family members. Keith graduated from Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, and proceeded to have a 40-year career in the newspaper industry - one that took him from his native Iowa to Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky, where he and Sharon lived for nearly 20 years as they raised their children. In addition to the states in which he called home, Keith led newspaper divisions in Oklahoma, Virginia, Alabama, Missouri, Illinois and beyond. A stalwart believer in the importance of journalism and a free press, Keith began his career as an advertising account executive at the Oskaloosa Daily Herald in Iowa, a paper he would later return to as a first-time publisher. Throughout his career, he served in multiple leadership roles, including publisher, division manager, senior vice president, president and, most recently, chief revenue officer. His newspapers regularly won awards from their respective state and regional press associations and played pivotal roles telling truthful and meaningful stories in and about the communities they served. He took great pride in serving as a mentor and trusted colleague, always cheering on and supporting team members as they made strides in their own careers. The journalism industry has shifted and evolved in significant ways over the decades, the Internet and modern world not always being kind to it; to Keith, though, the industry remained more imperative than ever. He viewed newspapers as pillars for every community at the local, regional and national level, and a way for readers to navigate and commemorate the important moments in their lives: scores from the local high school football game, photos of beaming children from the annual Christmas parade, and moments of hard truths needing to be told. It was more than a business; it was a vital service that made a meaningful impact - even when people didn't always want to acknowledge it. As Keith once said when moving on to a new chapter, "I am proud of [my teams] and the work we did. We never lost sight of our mission. At our core, our role is to connect, protect and celebrate the community." As Keith's career took him around the country, in each community he called home, he established roots and set out to make a difference. He served in leadership roles on a number of non-profit boards, committees and councils - from the Glasgow YMCA to the Chambers of Commerce in Columbia, Glasgow and Oskaloosa to the state press associations for Tennessee, Kentucky and Iowa. He was an active and life-long Rotarian, an organization whose civic spirit meant a great deal to him, and served as president-elect of the Columbia Breakfast Rotary Club and as president of the Glasgow Noon Rotary Club, where he was also honored as a Paul Harris Fellow. A man of deep faith, Keith served as an administrative council member and chair of the staff parish and building committee for the Glasgow First United Methodist Church, where he played a central role in the construction of the church's family life center and completion of its facility expansion. Keith was a larger than life person, someone you could easily look up to - and not just because he was so tall. He was a man of principle, who believed in doing the right thing because it was right, and who could see the good in the world even when the world seemed determined to prove him wrong. He was a student of history and the MVP in family trivia nights. He listened to history podcasts to fall asleep each night and could answer any question about the American presidents. He displayed a copy of the U.S. Bill of Rights in every office he ever had and never met a historical documentary he didn't enjoy. (The same was true for sports; one of his greatest joys was watching football and baseball - especially if his son was playing.) In the last six years of his life, Keith became an avid walker. On his daily five miles, he would spend that time solving the world's problems: brainstorming new projects at work and planning the itinerary for his next weekend getaway or family adventure. To that end, Keith was a consummate list maker, filling up hundreds if not thousands of legal pads and reporter's notebooks, each containing pages upon pages of his New York Times Spelling Bee notes (he earned the title of "genius" most mornings) interspersed with personal lists - lists of places he wanted to travel to, lists of his favorite family vacations, lists of memorable life events past, present and future. He was an organized, methodical, Type A personality who loved to look to the bigger picture and to dive deep into the nitty-gritty details. At his core, Keith's family meant the world to him. He was the best father his children could ask for, lifting them up and supporting them in all things. He was at every baseball, football or soccer game, every swim meet and dance recital, every choir concert and school event. He was always the loudest voice in the stands, the first person to proofread his daughter's various writing projects, the person his kids called on both the good days and the bad. He was the founding member of the "Spotted Hounds Organization," taking his son and Pepper the spotted Boston Terrier to get chicken biscuits or donuts while waiting to pick up his daughter from 5 a.m. swim practices. From the fun moments (like fireworks in the Grand Floridian pool at Disney World and getting lost on the way back from Fenway Park) to the big ones (like watching his children graduate and his son get married), Keith was a proud father, through and through, and his children are beyond blessed to have been able to call him dad.

Above all, he loved his wife Sharon with all his heart. Everything he did in life was to care for her, to support her, to laugh with her, to love her. The pair traveled the country together, each other's constant in all things. Their relationship started with an orange feather on the Himalayan ride at Adventureland and traversed a lifetime with countless beautiful memories in between.

Two celebrations of life will be held for Keith.

The first memorial service will take place in Glasgow, Kentucky, at the First United Methodist Church (500 South Green Street) on Sunday, November 23, at 1 p.m. in the sanctuary, with a visitation to follow from 2 to 4 p.m. in the life center. Light refreshments will be served.

The second memorial service will occur in Newton, Iowa, at Saint Luke's Methodist Church (501 East 19th Street) on Saturday, December 13, at 1 p.m. in the sanctuary, with a visitation to follow. Light refreshments will be served.

The family invites those who knew Keith to share any photos or stories of him for use at his celebration of life events and in a memorial newspaper in his honor by emailing keithpondermemorial@gmail.com. A GoFundMe was created on behalf of the family to ease the burden of medical bills and funeral expenses. If you feel led to give in lieu of flowers, please visit https://gofund.me/1aa4b017c. Holland Funeral Directors are honored to be serving the family.