From Social Security Death Index (SSDI) Records:

Gary Pontious (In high school he spelled his last name "Pontius," without the "o")

The deceased was born Friday, August 4, 1944 and was living in the state of Ohio when he applied for Social Security benefits.

Gary Pontious died August 1, 1982 at the age of 37 years, 11 months and 28 days.

From memory: My wife and I looked at his parents' house in Athens not too long after Gary passed away.  We were told that he had had an aneurysm in the brain that had burst while he was swinging on a swing in the back of their house.  His head hit the seat of the swing.  An autopsy was performed that determined that the aneursym caused the fall and his head hitting the swing seat and not the reverse.  -- CJD

[Editor's note: If anyone has or can find a full obituary for Gary, please forward the same to me, and I will post it here.  I searched both the Athens Messenger and the papers in Portsmouth, where he was living at the time of his death, and came up empty handed. --CJD]