Memories of Charlton County - by Gibson and Mays Back to Table of Contents 45. A TRAGEDY IN THE PONSELL FAMILY (Pp 92-93) After I moved to Waycross to
work with my brothers in the gas and oil business, and sometime during World War II, one of the most awful things happened one day to some of my good friends, the King Ponsell family. King's brother, Ben, and two of King's children drowned in the Satilla River. Ben and his wife didn't have any children but King and his wife had several. Two of King's little girls were just foolish about their Uncle Ben who took up a lots of time with them. King owned our old homeplace out
near Waltertown, and one day Ben went by his house and picked up the two little girls for he had promised to take them for a swim. They drove to the Satilla River, for that was a favorite spot. Not far from the usual swimming area was a treacherous current that was known as the whirlpool and somehow, even though Ben knew of the danger of that spot, he and King's two little daughters were drawn into the whirlpool and were drowned. It's possible that the children drifted into the dangerous area
and Ben drowned when he tried to rescue them. Ruth and I went to King's house that evening to be with our friends during their trouble and I never saw so many cars at any one place, There were cars everywhere! The Ponsells had many, many friends. It was bad enough to know that such a tragedy had happened to this family, but to make it even worse, the bodies were still in the river and weren't recovered until later in the night. King said that as much as those little girls
loved their uncle, he thought they would be found with their arms around his neck. That evening out at King's house I met the mail carrier that delivered the Ponsell's mail and he told me what cute children they were. "I guess I knew those kids better than anybody in this country," he said. "Every time I stopped at the Ponsell's mailbox, they clum all over my car!" When the funeral was held, it was for all three of them at the same
time. They were buried at the little cemetery just across the river from the Ponsell farm. I don't remember the names of the little girls. I do remember how people were trying to kill one another in the war that was going on overseas, and right here we had lost two precious children and their uncle in this awful accident at the river. It was hard to understand for it seemed like terrible things were happening everywhere. | 
