Everett Pond spent his life serving food, from hot dogs at ballgames to gourmet meals at country clubs.
Pond, who died Sept. 17 in Aurora at age 79, managed and owned restaurants, ran the PX at Lowry Air Force Base and sold hot dogs and hamburgers at ballgames in Grand Junction.
Mass for Pond will be at 10 a.m. today at St. James Catholic Church, 1314 Newport St.
Pond owned the Golden Bowl Coffee Shop in Golden and the Aeroplane Restaurant in Grand Junction with his brother, Richard Pond.
He later managed the Bookcliff Country Club in Grand Junction, the Oakcliff Country Club in Dallas and Palmbrook Country Club in Sun City, Ariz.
“It wasn’t that he necessarily liked to cook, but he liked to manage,” said his son, Dick Pond of Denver. “He could be autocratic. He even fired one of his caretakers” during his final illness, Dick Pond said.
“He thought he was in charge at home too, but sometimes he was disappointed,” he said.
Everett Pond did manage to get all seven of his children working at the various concession stands he operated while the family lived in Grand Junction, even if all the kids weren’t manageable.
“Some days we’d have multi-sites,” said David Pond of Fort Collins.
Six of the kids went along with the work and the 50-cents-an-hour pay, but John Pond had other ideas, said David Pond. “He signed up for football just to get out of work,” he said, laughing. “He only weighed 120 pounds.”
At other times John Pond would manage to get the slow counter at the swimming pool so he could spend his time reading, said his mother, Doreen Pond.
Everett Pond was often referred to as “Big,” which according to a longtime friend, Dr. Robert Elliott, was because he was “a little dinky squirt in high school. He was a good sport and always had a smile,” said Elliott, of Denver.
Everett L. Pond was born in Honolulu on Dec. 1, 1928. He moved with his family to Denver, graduating from Cathedral Catholic High School and earning a bachelor’s degree in hotel and restaurant management at the University of Denver.
He served three years in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Pond married Doreen Burgin in 1950. They later divorced, then remarried, then divorced again.
In addition to his sons Dick and David and his former wife, Pond is survived by two other sons, John Pond of Frisco and Michael Pond of Denver; two daughters, Denice Koches of Aurora and Lisa Pond of Rome, Italy; six grandchildren; his sister, Margaret Cohen of Denver; and his companion, Dorothy Valuck of Denver.
He was preceded in death by a daughter, Marceen Kreider.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
