Gordon Francis Ponceby 1984 Obituary Request Packet

Prepared: 30 April 2026

Status: human-input request packet for HIR-20260425-006.

Goal

Locate a full newspaper obituary or death notice for Gordon Francis Ponceby, or obtain an authoritative library/archive negative search result that can be archived in the research log.

Target Person

  • Preferred name: Gordon Francis Ponceby
  • Newspaper/index variants to search:
    • Gordon Ponceby
    • Gordon F. Ponceby
    • Gordon Francis Ponceby
    • Gorden Ponceby
    • Gorden F. Ponceby
    • Ponceby only
  • Death: 9 April 1984, St. Lukes Hospital, Maumee, Lucas County, Ohio
  • Residence at death: 11050 West St., Whitehouse, Lucas County, Ohio 43571
  • Spouse/informant: Shirley Ponceby / Shirley Armstrong
  • Parents as recorded: Donald Ponceby and Catherine McKayhorne
  • Occupation as recorded: car salesman / retail car sales
  • Disposition as recorded: Retain; disposition place Medical College of Ohio, Toledo
  • Ohio death certificate clue: certificate no. 029102, volume 25620

Index Citation Received

On 30 April 2026, the user reported ordering a copy from a TLCPL obituary-index citation with these fields:

  • Headline: Gordon F. Ponceby
  • Date of death: Apr 9, 1984
  • Age: 58
  • Address: Whitehouse, OH
  • Source type: Obituaries
  • Newspaper: The Blade
  • Newspaper date: 19840410
  • Photo: N
  • Blank/not supplied in the pasted citation: spouse, images/files, column, section, inches, and page

The pasted index citation is preserved as source-tlcpl-obituary-index-entry-for-gordon-f-ponceby-1984. The returned Blade copy should be ingested as a separate source when it arrives.

What Has Already Been Tried

  • Public exact web searches for the name variants above with obituary, death notice, Toledo Blade, The Blade, Whitehouse, Maumee, and April 1984 terms did not surface a durable obituary image or reliable indexed hit.
  • Google News Archive Toledo Blade issues for 10-16 April 1984 were checked with OCR/name sweeps. The 10 April 1984 issue was identified, and page 7 was visually inspected because it includes area-death material; no Gordon/Gorden/Ponceby entry was visible there. OCR hits for Ponceby-like strings were false positives.
  • The TLCPL obituary-index host at https://obits.toledolibrary.org/obits/ refused connection from the agent environment, so the live index still needs human/manual access.
  • The user has now ordered the copy from a matching TLCPL index citation, so the next step is to wait for the returned scan/copy rather than repeat public searching.

Best Request Route

  1. Open the TLCPL obituary page:
    • https://www.toledolibrary.org/obituaries/
    • Use LOOK UP OBITUARIES, which points to https://obits.toledolibrary.org/obits/.
  2. Search with fewer terms first:
    • Ponceby
    • Gordon Ponceby
    • Gorden Ponceby
    • Gordon F Ponceby
    • Gorden F Ponceby
  3. If a result appears, request the obituary scan through the index page and save the response details for ingestion.
  4. If the index is inaccessible or gives no hit, contact TLCPL Local History and Genealogy:
    • Email: Local.History@toledolibrary.org
    • Phone: (419) 259-5233
    • Contact page: https://tlcpllochhis.omeka.net/contact
    • General help form: https://www.toledolibrary.org/contact-us-get-help/
  5. If you have TLCPL library access, also try the NewsBank historical Blade database listed by TLCPL as covering 1848-2021. Search by surname Ponceby and browse the date range if keyword search fails.

Suggested Request Text

Subject: Obituary/death notice lookup request - Gordon/Gorden F. Ponceby, April 1984

Hello,

I am requesting a lookup for a possible obituary, death notice, or classified death notice in The Blade / Toledo Blade for Gordon Francis Ponceby.

Known details:

  • Name variants: Gordon Francis Ponceby, Gordon F. Ponceby, Gorden F. Ponceby, and surname-only Ponceby
  • Date of death: 9 April 1984
  • Place of death: St. Lukes Hospital, Maumee, Lucas County, Ohio
  • Residence: 11050 West St., Whitehouse, Ohio 43571
  • Spouse/informant: Shirley Ponceby / Shirley Armstrong
  • Occupation: car salesman / retail car sales
  • Ohio death certificate: certificate no. 029102, volume 25620

Could you please search The Blade / Toledo Blade obituary and death-notice listings around 9-16 April 1984? If staff time permits, please extend the search through 23 April 1984 in case the notice ran later or appeared only in classified death notices.

If found, I would appreciate a scan or copy of the full notice and its citation, including newspaper title, publication date, section, page, and any index entry details. If no notice is found, a short negative result with the dates and sources searched would also be very helpful for my research log.

I am contacting you from [city, state].

Thank you.

Ingestion Notes After Response

  • If TLCPL sends a scan or image, ingest it as one proposed source record with scripts/ingest_record.py.
  • If TLCPL sends only a no-result response, archive that as the fulfillment/negative result for HIR-20260425-006 rather than creating a person-record change.
  • Do not update Gordon's person record from an obituary request result until the returned source is ingested and accepted by the user.