Ponder's wife influences him but respects his decisions
Ponder's wife, Nina Lou, followed his decision on where to live and what type of work to do after he left the military. She did try to interest him in her father's furniture business, but willingly followed him onto a farm.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Zeno Ponder, March 22, 1974. Interview A-0326. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
After the war was over I was offered a continued job, but I
simply just wanted to get back to Madison county. I wanted to get back
to the country I loved, to the people I loved. And be my own boss, take
my own chances, do my own gambling. So I came back to Madison
county.
- BILL FINGER:
-
One thing I'm interested in at this point, going back to Madison county .
. . well, several things. Your wife had been very independent for
that time. She'd gotten a chemistry major in a
field that is often male dominated. And she had worked, even taken over
your job at one place. Was there any question, as there is now with lots
of men and women who are both, have experienced professional situations,
of the wife would go with her man. Did you talk about that at the time.
She knew you loved Madison county, so that's where she wanted to go,
too.
- ZENO PONDER:
-
Well, really, I guess at the time, unquestionably, we were both very much
in love with each other. And I think I get your question. Nina Lou
didn't hesitate to respect my judgment to work with me and go with me.
Now she has influenced me, and she's tried to influence me along some
lines which I just wouldn't accept. She thought I would have made an
excellent salesman and she wanted me to get in to the furniture
business. Her father had been a furniture man. Her
grandfather—Rustin Furniture company. They had done real well
in the furniture business. I told her, yes, I guess I could sell. You
know. But I'm just not interested in selling. I like to produce. I like
to farm. I like to see things grow. I like to gamble on the weather. I
like to gamble on whether a calf will be born alive or dead. I don't
want to sell a piece of furniture.
- BILL FINGER:
-
And she respected that?
- ZENO PONDER:
-
She respected my judgment. Said "Okay, we'll farm." So
we put together what we had, which was not a great deal. But we had
bought war bonds all during the war, both she and I. And she had a
little money coming in from her father's estate, who had been dead many
years at that time—20 years. And I had some money coming in
at this point from my father and mother's land. So we pooled it, and
went in debt right heavy and started farming.