Elzie and Christina Pont lived most of their lives in the Alliance, Nebraska area. Elzie worked for the railroad for much of his life. He tried, unsuccessfully, to farm a few times. To make ends meet, they raised chickens and eggs and sometimes took in children whose parents were unable to care for them for a time. Elzie was reported to have had red hair as a child, but, after recovering from typhoid fever at 16, he had white hair for the rest of his life. He played the fiddle and piano and loved to read, which was one of the reasons he didn’t do well as a farmer – he preferred reading to going out to do the work that needed to be done. Christina had been a country school teacher until she married at age 21. She was an active member of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. No alcohol was allowed in their home. Elizie’s father, William, lived with them for many years until he died from complications of gangrene in his feet (related to diabetes, perhaps). He said that his father had changed his family name at Ellis Island when he came to the US from England. The change was made to leave a past problem behind and William said that he was the last one who knew what the problem had been and he would never tell anyone. Elzie died at the age of 80 in 1968 after many years of difficulties with dementia (not Alzheimer’s). Christina died at the age of 78 in 1971.

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