Editor's Note: This story was made possible through information compiled and submitted to us by Michael Pond. Without his efforts, this story would have never been possible.
Look through the glass in the display case outside of the Tuthill Learning Commons, and it won’t take long to notice that it’s more than a display case at the moment. It’s a window into a bygone era. Inside is a high school diploma, and not one you’ll see every day. It sits inside of a metallic picture frame, adorned by brightly colored decorations that draw you in. 
The year on the diploma is 1911, over a century ago. When the diploma was conferred, Chevrolet was about to enter the automobile market for the first time. The Standard Oil trust was in the process of being dissolved after a recent antitrust ruling by the US Supreme Court. Ray Harroun had just won the first Indianapolis 500 in his company’s car, and in the process, he demonstrated the use of the first rear view mirror. And somewhere in this time frame, a graduate named Richard Empey Pond received this document as one of the high points of a short but remarkable life.
Pond, born June 3rd, 1894, was the Class of 1911 Valedictorian at Camden High School. By secondhand accounts, he was one of a handful of graduates to receive an Advanced Academy Diploma at the time. He was the son of Charles Putnam Pond and Elizabeth (Keating) Pond of Parnasus Street in the Village of Camden. 
He worked in the office of F. H. Conant’s Sons, Inc., a furniture manufacturer, and was also a member of the Masonic lodge. Eugene H Conant, who ran the company for many years, resided in a home that stood on the current site of Camden Elementary School.
The need for troops to protect US interests amidst the ongoing and often-intertwined events of the Mexican Revolution, the Pancho Villa expedition, and World War I led Pond to enlist in the United States Army. Pond was the first man in Camden to respond to a call for volunteers, and served in the 1st Infantry, 44th Regiment, B Company up until an honorable discharge in September of 1916.
He returned to the service a year later as a cadet in the Flying Corps, and went on to receive his pilot’s diploma and a commission as a second lieutenant. His combat orders came on July 2nd, 1918, and he headed off to Europe to join the Allied effort in the relatively new frontier of aerial combat. He mainly flew in France, and per his obituary in a 1918 edition of the Camden Advance-Journal, his final letters home indicated he was on the front lines and his position was under constant pressure from German forces.
Unfortunately, Richard’s fortunes against the unfriendly odds of war ran out on November 13th, 1918, two days after the Armistice was signed. He died in a plane crash while flying on military orders over France. He left behind his parents and three siblings. A relatively new distinction of the time, the Gold Star, was awarded for his sacrifice.
So, you may wonder how his Diploma ended up back at Camden High School after all this time. The answer rests with Michael Pond, a teacher in the Chicago suburbs. Pond became curious about his own family’s history, whose time in North America dates all the way back to 1630, and the founding of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. His ancestors landed at Salem on the flagship Arbella, a voyage that included governor John Winthrop and the charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company.
A long journey to find out more about his own genealogy brought Michael to Camden, where Bartholomew Pond, a minuteman of the American Revolution, settled. The Ponds were one of the Camden area’s earliest-settling families, and built their family homestead on Mexico Street.
Bartholomew died in 1810. His brother Timothy was a Revolutionary War officer who was in Clinton at the time of his 1801 death, and Timothy had a son of his own, also named Bartholomew. The younger Bartholomew’s great-grandson was Charles Putnam Pond, Richard’s father. Of note, Charles’s maternal grandfather was Colonel Richard Empey, and he resided with Colonel Empey for years at the family homestead on Empey Avenue until his marriage. Richard Pond’s younger sister, Clarissa Pond Heaton, retired from teaching at Camden in 1963.
Many of the Ponds are buried around Camden in the Forest Park Cemetery, and the Mexico Street Cemetery. The elder Bartholomew donated the land for the latter, and was the first person to be buried there.
Michael arrived in Camden with little other than places and grave sites to inform his search for information. What he ended up with was a treasure trove of family items beyond what he ever could have expected.
He paid a visit to the Queen Village Historical Society, only to find that nobody was at the building on that day. A neighbor, seeing his dilemma, suggested the Camden Masonic Lodge as a starting point. In a stroke of luck, the lodge just so happened to be convening its membership for an election. Richard’s picture was hanging in the lodge at the entrance to the lodge’s ceremonial hall. After furnishing extensive proof of his family history, Michael was offered a host of items from the family, including Richard’s High School Diploma.
Although Michael had never been to Camden, this incredible turn of events would have tricked him into thinking otherwise.
“It felt really wild,” he said. “I felt like I was home. What a unique experience.”
After some careful consideration, Michael decided the best place for that diploma to be would be Camden High School, where it currently sits today. The next time you see it on display, take a moment to ponder how it got there. You might see it differently knowing that it carries connections to the birth of our community, and to the settlement of America itself. 