Albert Ponte of Cookeville died Saturday, Oct. 10 of complications from a long-term illness.
The second son of Joseph Gonsalves Ponte and Adelaide Santos Ponte, he was born in 1929 in New Bedford, Mass., the old whaling city. From early childhood, he had a great sense of history and love for the sea.  He played ice hockey with the kids on the streets, football and baseball in the vacant lots.  He graduated from New Bedford High School. After attending UMass for two years, he transferred to the University of California, Berkley, the school which he thought had the best physics department in the country. After graduation with honors, he entered graduate school at Carnegie Tech, and before graduation from Carnegie, was called into the Army during the Korean War. Al had been in ROTC during high school and college, and went into the Army Signal Corps as a Second Lieutenant. 
During his Army stint, he was deployed to Arizona where he was an official monitor for an atomic bomb test. Another assignment was to the new Army Guided Missile School at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Ala., and there he found the beginnings of his life-long career and passion – guided missiles and radar.  Also it was there he met a young redheaded librarian from Cookeville, named Rosemary Pedigo. 
Al and Rosemary were married after a five-month courtship, but at the tender ages of 23 and 21, they both knew it was for life. After leaving the Army as a 1st Lieutenant in early 1955, Al worked for Hughes Aircraft for a year, then was employed by Raytheon Co. in Wayland, Mass., where he stayed until his retirement in 1992. Raytheon is an international engineering and electronics development company, and employment there led to travel and work internationally. During the last period of his 35-year career with Raytheon, Al was responsible for the Tartar Missile Program. Through Raytheon, Al worked with the U.S. Navy, and in turn with most of our allied Navies in Europe and Asia. He made many life-long friends around the world, and was always highly respected for his personal and professional integrity and honesty.
Al and Rosemary had two children, Marta and Brian. He enjoyed his role as a father and spent most of his limited spare time in activities with them. He particularly loved to ski with them, and on countless weekends over their youth, arose before dawn and returned after dark from Vermont or New Hampshire with two sleepy kids in the car. Marta went to the University of Chicago, where she met her husband, David Clark, and Brian went to University of California. He married Melissa Nathan, and years later, after their divorce, married Kimberly Skinner. Marta has three children and Brian has four. They are in order: Dr. Elena Clark, Benedict Clark (Anna), Forrest Clark (Ashley), Saundra Ponte Deppa (Chris), Talya Ponte, Maya Ponte, and Gemma Ponte.
In addition to being very dedicated to his career, Al was a very civic-minded man. He served on the board of many organizations over the years: President of Framingham, Mass., Community Concerts Association; member of the founding Board of the New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, Mass.;  Board of the Santa Fe (N.M.) Desert Chorale; President of the Santa Fe Council of International Relations.
Still in their early to mid-20s when they moved to Boston, he and Rosemary started attending the newly formed Boston Opera Company performances. Another love affair was born, soon followed by a love for ballet. Al not only traveled in his work, but he and Rosemary traveled widely just for the pleasure of seeing the world. Wherever they went, they always looked for performances being given in the fine halls and opera houses. He was so happy to find Cookeville had a very fine symphony when he and Rosemary moved here in 2002.
After a very debilitating illness, Al died very peacefully last Saturday.  Rosemary was able to keep him at home until his death, with the help of appreciated caregivers.
Services were held Thursday at the Cookeville Chapel of Hooper, Huddleston, Horner Funeral Home, 59 N. Jefferson Avenue, Cookeville, (931) 526-6111.  ou may share your thoughts and memories at www.hhhfunerals.com
Hooper-Huddleston & Horner Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Southern Standard
(McMinnville, Tenn.) Oct. 16, 2015