Fred Pondexter

Fred Pondexter, 85, a bishop in the Pentecostal Church in Jesus Name, died Oct. 26, 2007 at RTA Hospice House.


Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at J. Warren Funeral Services, Cole & Maud The Gardens Chapel. The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Christ Assembly in Casa Grande. Burial will be in Mountain View Cemetery.

Bishop Pondexter was born Sept. 24, 1922 in Washington, Ark., to William Pondexter Sr. and Gracie Stuart, the first of 16 children. He attended Arkansas public schools and helped in raising his younger brothers and sisters. He became the family patriarch and always helped when needed. At age 22 he met and married the love of his life, Earnestine Nelson. He worked in construction.

Through his wife he became a Christian. His family became members of the Church of God in Christ. He became a preacher in 1964 and later converted to the Pentecostal Church in Jesus Name. He and his evangelist wife preached the gospel. They started a church in Ozan, Ark. They later established four others, in Cooper, Commerce and Greenville, Texas, and Arizona.

He could preach and pray for hours and said the Lord visited him through dreams. He loved to travel to California to see his daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. After his wife's death, he married Sandra Gaither in 1995. They raised her grandson Kevin Randle.

In addition to his wife, survivors include a daughter, Mary Scott of Inglewood, Calif.; five brothers, William Pondexter of Casa Grande, Jasper Pondexter of Muskogee, Okla., Jedee Pondexter of Hope, Ark., Charley and James Pondexter of Dallas; seven sisters, Lucy M. Thomas of Greenville, Charlene Morrison of Los Angeles, Rosetta Williams of Kress, Texas, Catherine Ford of Lubbock, Texas, Joella Welch of Texarkana, Ark., Louella Swift of Hope and Patsy Pondexter of Dallas; seven grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his first wife; a daughter, Louise Samuels; and Bradley, Wesper, Robert and Earnest Pondexter, Ruby King and Thelma Follow.