Legette Ponder Zorn

Legette Ponder Zorn, 94, passed away on May 12, 2026 in Arden, North Carolina.

Legette was born in Turner County, Georgia, a proud son of parents who were founding members of FDR’s Irwinville Farms Project in Irwinville, Georgia.

Legette grew up healthy and strong working on his parents’ farm and in neighboring tobacco fields. He was a key player on the tiny, underfunded 1947 Irwinville Farmers basketball class B state championship team under the legendary Coach Wallace Childs. After graduating from Irwinville High School in 1948, he and two local friends rode the bus to Atlanta, Georgia to make their way in the world. They were just 16 years old; the age young people graduated from high school at that time. After a few years as a clerk at Montgomery Ward, Legette enlisted in the United States Navy. He wanted to be a Seabee, but the Navy decided he would be a storekeeper. Legette’s favorite story during service involved his wife Anne’s brave evacuation from Cuba with three small children during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He always said that the hardest job in the Navy is that of the Navy wife. During his last assignment in Charleston, South Carolina, he started Boy Scout troop 86 and was a little league football coach for the undefeated Tigers. He then went on to coach the winning All-Stars team for the Charleston region invitational. He served his country honorably and retired after 21 years as Master Chief Petty Officer.

After retiring from the military, Legette moved his family back home to the Irwinville area in South Georgia to build a small farm on the same county road as his parents. Through his large garden, crops, and farm animals, he was pleased to provide healthy food for his family. He often quietly left favored vegetables or split firewood on the porches of his elderly neighbors. Legette and his wife hosted a young man from Norway as an exchange student in the early 1980s and came to love him as a son. Legette was also a much-loved bus driver and substitute teacher with the Irwin County Schools, often driving the lead bus for out-of-town sporting events, field trips, and band competitions. Many years, Legette enjoyed spending two weeks in June hiking different sections of the Appalachian Trail until he had completed the entire length from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine. His trail name as an AT hiker was Zoro; he spelled it with one r because it “took too much pencil to write the second r” in the trail logbooks, and he didn’t want to carry the extra weight in his pack. He enjoyed leading Irwinville’s Boy Scout troop 832 by introducing the scouts to hiking in the mountains, and building bird houses, among other activities. In his spare time, Legette flew his Cessna 182 Skylane as often as he could, including a solo trip to Alaska camping “under the wing”, and sometimes delivered Christmas gifts to his out-of-state grandchildren, but most notably as a volunteer to fly missions as an Angel Flight of Georgia pilot to help those in need of medical treatment.

When Legette and Anne decided to retire (again), they sold the farm and moved to Asheville, North Carolina. He remained active and enjoyed working out at the local YMCA, spending quiet time with his wife, having weekly coffee and lunch with his buddies, traveling the country and world when possible, and chauffeuring his grandchildren as often as he could.

Legette was preceded in death by his wife of 68 years, Anne (Bowers) Zorn; his parents, Harvey and Margaret (Ponder) Zorn; his brothers Emmett Zorn and Billy Zorn, and his sisters Marty (Zorn) Young and Maezie (Zorn) Lawrence.

Legette is survived by his sister, Betty (Zorn) Laminack; his son Davy Zorn, his daughter Becky Purcell (Larry), his son Danny Zorn (MaryAnn), and his daughter Meg Zorn; his grandchildren Jacob Purcell, Carlin Purcell, Corrie Purcell, Kendall Zorn, Caitlin Zorn, Quinn Hull (Rachel), and Skylar Hull; his “Best Friend” Kristin Garner; and his “Norwegian son” Jan-Yngve Magnussen.

Paulk Funeral Home will assist with a service of military honors to be held graveside in the Irwinville cemetery at 11:00 am on October 17, 2026. All are welcome to attend.