BIOGRAPHY: Mike Chapman went to her 16th birthday party in 1956 (she was really 64, but Feb. 29 only comes around every four years!) She was a twin to Cora Cornish who died at childbirth.
The following passage was written by Nora Ivy Ponsell and is contained in the booklet, "The King and the Queen", by Marie Ponsell Young.
On August 13, 1941, J.T. had come home on a furlough from the Army. We all went to the river for a picnic. After we had our lunch, Carlos and I were in Jim Lott's cabin. We heard yelling from the river and ran quickly down to the edge. Marion and Mary Leigh had gone down. J.T. went to them and Francis went in. Rezora Thompson and Melba picked up a long pole and waded out for J.T. to hold to, but he came up for his last time. He came out almost drown, too. Carlos started in for Francis, but he said to her, "Don't come any closer!" Then he went down. I cried and yelled for help and some men came but they wouldn't go in after them. There were no telephones close, so Melba got in her car and went for help. King was working for King Bros. at that time. He came and brought me home. Cecil Ponsell found Mary Leigh after a few hours and Myles Chapman brought Marion up some time during the night. It came up a terrible rain late in the evening. Someone brought up Francis. That was the most awful time in our lives.
One evening about a week later I was cooking supper and I felt like I couldn't stand it any longer. I prayed for that awful burden to be lifted. God heard my prayers and I could live with more ease. We were living in King's mother's old house then. He had bought the old home place after her death. All three, Marion, Mary Leigh, and Francis were buried on the fifteenth of August. That was the largest crowd I ever saw and the most flowers. The Rev. A. J. Harper preached their funeral.
The following article is from the Waycross Journal Herald, Aug. 14, 1941, titled "Three Lives Claimed by Satilla Whirlpool".
Two Children and Brother of King Ponsell Drowned. Francis M. Ponsell, 43-year-old carpenter, tried heroically but vainly yesterday afternoon to rescue his two young nieces, Marion Pearl Ponsell, 13 and Mary Leigh Ponsell, 9, who had ventured beyond their depth in the Satilla river. All three were drowned.
The two children were with a party at the Whirlpool, near Waltertown, six miles northwest of Waycross, and wading off a sandbar found themselves in distress, walking off a sheer "drop" which begins a short distance from the edge of the bar.
Their uncle and their brother, J. T. Ponsell, answered the screams of the two children. Francis Ponsell reached one of the children, according to an eye witness, but disappeared in the swirling water of the Whirlpool. J. T. Ponsell, a brother of the girls who is home on leave from the Army, searched frantically but vainly for the other child, and was completely exhausted within a short time.
BODIES RECOVERED
The tragedy occurred about 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Within a short time a number of divers were combing the Whirlpool bend, a treacherous section of the river where several persons previously lost their lives. The body of Francis Ponsell first was found, after a search of more than a hour. Within a few minutes the body of the youngest girl was found. Both were recovered within a short distance of the spot where they disappeared.
The search for the other little girl continued until midnight before divers and searchers were rewarded. A violent electrical and rain storm interrupted the search for approximately two hours, beginning about 6 o'clock in the afternoon.
Volunteer workers from Waltertown community and from Waycross worked valiantly throughout the afternoon and into the night, while members of the Ponsell family watched from the nearby sandbar.
FINAL RITES
Triple funeral services will be held Friday morning at 11 o'clock the Rehobeth Church in Pierce county, the three to be laid to rest side by side. Burial will be at Rehobeth cemetery.
From another article on August 15, 1941 it states, "Floral tributes were among the most profuse and beautiful ever seen in South Georgia."
Addendum by Mike Chapman. Several other people drowned at the Whirlpool after this according to Bertha Pauline Chapman. Near the river was "Sweet Gum Spring" that was very cold and had a vine over which people would swing and drop into the water. It was a popular site before the war but was later closed down. The water from the spring flowed directly into the river a short distance away. James Myles Chapman and his sister took their families to this spring when their children were relatively young. Mike Chapman remembers that the river was indeed very swift and strong for a boy of 10 years old, and could easily had lost the tug of war with the river's current even though he was a strong swimmer. James Myles used to go to this pool often when he was young and people loved to watch him dive. He was an extremely strong swimmer and swam all of his life.
