“Loving God! Loving People!” Those words can be found on the worn, wooden hanging sign of the Old Walnut Ridge Baptist Church in Arkansas. And they are words that well describe Catherine Ponder, 103, a longtime member and piano player of the church.
Ponder accepted the Lord into her heart when she was 12 years old. It was also around that time she began learning to play piano. She and some of the other girls at the church would take turns playing hymns and singing them during Sunday school and worship.
A couple of the first hymns she learned to play were “Jesus Loves Me” and “Victory in Jesus.”
Over the years, Ponder has continued to play the piano regularly at Old Walnut Ridge Baptist Church, spanning a period of 90 years except for a few gaps for illness and during World War II.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was written by Mary Alford and originally published by the Arkansas Baptist News.
