Agnes Haafke Pond

POND HAAFKE

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 10/13/2010 at 20:18:36

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

Agnes (Haafke) Pond
By Helen Pond Humphrey

Agnes Pond was born August 25, 1876, in Sioux City, Iowa. She was the fourth surviving child born in the Edward Haafke family.

She attended Elliot Creek Grade School. She worked very hard at home since she was the oldest daughter. She was received into the Elliot Creek Presbyterian Church on February 15, 1898.

Agnes had an interesting youth. First she was apprenticed to a seamstress in Sioux City. She was also a pastry cook at the Antler’s Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for one summer. She sold cook books door-to-door in Colorado. She went to Los Angeles in the very earl 1900’s and went into nurse’s training at the Good Samaritan Hospital. She worked as a waitress in California and waited on the Wright Brothers. Agnes said waitresses like to wait on them for they gave five cent tips. They also thought the Wright Brothers a big crazy for trying to fly. While Agnes was in Los Angeles, she bought a lot on Wilshire Boulevard, which she kept until she returned to Iowa. It is now worth millions (in the middle of Beverly Hills- Wilshire and LaCiengo, Boulevard).

It is believed that Agnes returned to Iowa because Ruth was ill with rheumatic fever. She was doing private duty nursing when she met Dr L O Pond. He was a widower with two children, ages 3 and 8. Dr L O Pond and Agnes Haafke were married in 1912. Agnes was 35 years old. She worked with Dr Pond giving anesthetics to his patients. Agnes continued practicing nursing for many years, until she became disabled.

She was very determined and ambitious. Her daughter, Helen, still has her pin that she wore while campaigning for ‘Votes for Women’. She was also a working member of the ‘WCTU’ (Women’s Christian Temperance Union). Agnes died on November 22, 1961, in Las Vegas, Nevada, where Frederic and Helen (Pool) Humphrey lived. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Frederic A Humphrey and Helen Pond were married December 5, 1940. Mary Lynn Humphrey was born July 10, 1946, and died October 25, 1961 with cystic fibrosis. Their son by adoption, Michael John, was born May 15, 1951. He is a M.D. specialist in Pediatrics, and also in Anesthesia. He is married and lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Frederic and Helen now live in Bothell, Washington.