Sonia Mae Pesaros, age 85 of Bloomfield Hills, passed away July 7, 2024. She was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1939, the daughter of a steel mill worker and a schoolteacher. Sonia was the middle child of three girls. In 1947, she and her family moved to Harbor Beach, Michigan.

Sonia was a thespian and the drum majorette for her high school marching band. After graduating from Harbor Beach High School in 1957, Sonia moved to Detroit to enroll in a nursing program at Henry Ford Hospital. In 1960, she earned her certification as an R.N. and worked in the operating room at Ford Hospital as a scrub nurse.

It was there that Sonia met the love of her life, Pan, a surgeon, while working together in the operating room. Pan moved to Greece in 1963 to start a medical practice in Athens. In 1964, with a trunk of her belongings, Sonia boarded an ocean liner. Leaving all she knew behind in the U.S., they married in Athens, Greece in 1964, where they lived and started their family.

Returning to the U.S. in 1966 with her husband and baby girl, Sonia continued the life of a mother. She retired from nursing and had three more children over the next ten years.

Sonia was a devoted wife and mother. In addition to her own husband & children she opened their home to two young adults, children of friends overseas, and saw to their growth and new life in the U.S., an adoptive mother of sorts. Sonia also cared for her own mother as well as other relatives and friends when the need arose.

A member of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church for almost forty years, she gave of her talent by singing in the choir for most of those years. Along with Pan, Sonia was a member of the National Forum for Greek Orthodox Church Musicians and a member of the choir for the National Clergy-Laity Conference held in Detroit in 1978. Sonia was a faithful servant of our Lord and Savior.

Sonia and Pan enjoyed traveling and spending time together with their family. They will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary together, next week, with our Lord in Heaven; and will rejoice in never having spent an anniversary without one another. Her husband was everything to her and when he left this Earth her life changed in ways that no one could have imagined. Her family is proud of how hard she fought sudden illnesses in the last six months of her life. She never lost her sense of humor and quiet sarcasm. She will be missed dearly. May her memory be eternal.

Sonia was the beloved wife of the departed Panayotis Pesaros for 59 years on this Earth. Loving mother of Maria McBride, Elizabeth (David) Abbo, the late Constandina (Athanasios) Gikas and Paul (Tamara) Pesaros. Proud grandmother of twelve grandchildren and great-grandmother of five great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her sister, Mary Jane (Larry) Turner, her brother-in-Law, Jake Jaskoski, her Goddaughter, Christina McNaughton, and her many nieces and nephews.

Sonia was preceded in death by her parents, Trygve and Beatrice Ursin, her daughter, Constandina Gikas, her sister, Joan Jaskoski, and her koumbari.

In state for Sonia will be held Saturday, July 13th, from 10:00 a.m. until the time of her Funeral Service at 11:00 a.m. at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church, 25225 Middlebelt Rd., Farmington Hills. She will be laid to rest in Woodlawn Cemetery, Detroit.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Sonia's name may be directed to Holy Cross Greek Orthodox.