Renee Sonner
Fayston, NYC, Lake Tahoe
My mother, Renee Sonner, passed away at 9 p.m. on November 25, 2016, the day after Thanksgiving. She was born January 8, 1927. It may be an unusual way to honor her memory, but I have decided to post a memorial to her on Facebook. My mom had friends all over the world and there is no way that I would be able to contact all of them so I am hoping that social media will come to my rescue.
It was a bittersweet Thanksgiving at our house. I sat with my mom for a few days until she passed and had a lot of time to reflect on both my life and hers. I was thinking about what I learned from her: I learned to cherish my friends and family, to have an open home for anyone who happened to be passing through, to make people feel at home when they visited and to feel at home in strange places, to treat everyone as equals, to reach out in friendship wherever I am, to dance and enjoy life every day.
Growing up my mom was the life of the party. She literally danced on tables! She was warm and friendly and strangers easily became lifelong friends. Our house in Vermont was a great weekend ski house for my parents’ friends and their families. For Christmas vacation we would often have 24-plus people sleeping all over the house. My parents had a holiday party every year and my mother had extra gifts wrapped up in case someone she didn’t expect happened to stop by.
Since my mom grew up in Belgium and her childhood friends were scattered about Europe, I had the good fortune to be traded with her friends to a different country every summer. Her friends’ kids would come to Vermont and stay with us and I spent summers in Belgium, Spain and France with her friends’ families.
If my mom happened to meet anyone in her travels who was interested in coming to New York, there was always a room and a bed for them, usually mine! I came home many times to find someone living in the apartment for a period of days, weeks or months. No matter who was in the house, whether it was someone who lived there and cleaned or someone passing through, they were always part of the family.
I want to thank everyone who helped care for my parents in the last two years with gentle hands and open hearts. My mom never lost her sense of self and, even when she could no longer speak, always had a smile for everyone.
It was fitting to wake up this morning to notes from my Balinese friends filled with love and light and the wish for my mom’s soul to be at peace.
If anyone wants to make a donation in my mom’s name, please donate to the Tahoe City fire department. Please note on the check that the donation is in memory of Renee Sonner. I can’t even express how many times they came to our home and always treated my parents with the dignity and respect they deserved.
Here is the information for any donations: North Tahoe Firefighters Association, P.O. Box 6047, Tahoe City, CA 96145, TIN# 97-2279309 - 501C 4.
I am so grateful for my parents and was so blessed to grow up with them and to be able to care for them for the last few years. They will always be in my heart.
Michele Sonner
Fayston and
Lake Tahoe, CA
