Barbara S. Ponce

Barbara S. Ponce, loving mother, wife and cherished friend to many, passed away on June 26, 2013. She is survived by her husband of 57 years, Pat, sons Patrick Jr., of Raleigh, NC, Michael (Cynthia) of Sarasota, FL, sister SSJ Carol Stovall of St. Augustine and numerous nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her parents William & Grace Stovall of Jacksonville, FL, her sons Robert Ponce of St. Petersburg FL, Steven Ponce of St. Petersburg and brother William Jr. of Las Vegas, NV. Barbara was born and raised in Jacksonville, FL, moving to the St. Petersburg area in 1977. She joined the City of Pinellas Park as an administrative clerk in 1978. In 1983 she was promoted to Assistant Library Director and, later that year, received a Master's Degree from the University of South Florida. Barbara was later promoted to Library Director and eventually to Community Activities Administrator, overseeing the library as well as parks and recreation divisions of the city. Although she retired in 2009, her work ethic, positive attitude, creative flair and love of libraries is still evident to all who enter the Pinellas Park Public Library. During her tenure with the city, Barbara received many honors. In 1989 she served as an adjunct professor at the University of South Florida School of Library and Information Science, facilitating a class in "Building Library Collections." She was one of the first to volunteer when Vision Cable started Community Access Programming. Her production of "Inside City Limits, Pride In the Park," received a 1991 Community Access Spotlight Achievement Award. In 1994 Barbara was appointed to the State of Florida Advisory Council on Libraries and served until 1997. After her retirement, Barbara served as the chair of the Pinellas Public Library Cooperative's Board of Directors, where she continued to advocate for libraries and their services. Barbara's passing leaves a hole in our hearts but a lifetime of memories as she generously shared her zest for life, passion for knowledge, love of books, librarianship and lessons of life experience with everyone she met. She will be missed. Visitation will be at Monday, July 1st 6:30pm - 8:00pm at Anderson McQueen Funeral Home, 2201 MLK St. N., Funeral Mass will be Tuesday, July 2nd 10:00am at St. Paul's Catholic Church, 1800 12th St. N., burial following at Sunnyside Cemetery.