A way of life, filled with gentleness, dignity and accomplishment, has passed with the death of Sonia Hogan, of Wethersfield, Connecticut, on September 4, 2011, in Wilmington, Delaware. Devoted wife and mother, she was 93 years old.
Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, she was the daughter of the late Thomas and Mary Shicko and sister to the late John and Walter Shicko. She was the wife of William DeLorey Sullivan who died in 1973 and Martin J. Hogan who died in 1983.
She had a passion for ballet. In her early career, she studied dance under the tutelage of George Balanchine and the School of the American Ballet in New York City. Just prior to World War II, she opened her own dance studio in Hartford, Connecticut. When the war erupted, and the government called for women to enter the workforce, she was employed in nursing at Hartford Hospital. With soldiers returning home from the war, including her husband William, and reentering the workforce, she was able to devote full time to her family. She later embarked on a career at Hartford Electric Light Company (subsequently North East Utilities) receiving recognition for her long association and career achievements.
Throughout her life, she was a student of Russian language and culture. She studied linguistics at Central Connecticut State College and expanded her horizons with courses at Trinity College and Yale University. She utilized her linguistic skills with friends, community endeavors and travel abroad.
It gave her great pleasure to entertain others with her musical abilities, delightfully singing while playing on her Steinway piano. A patron of the performing arts, Mrs. Hogan was devoted to programs at Trinity and Wesleyan University.
Most of all, she is remembered as a homemaker and loving mother to her daughter, Sonia Sullivan Marin, and son-in-law Bayard Marin, with whom she lived in declining health. Her greatest joy was the mutual love shared with her granddaughter Anne-Melanie Marin Zeigler and husband Michael J. Zeigler, Sr., grandson William Arnold DeLorey Marin, and great grandson Michael J. Zeigler, Jr.
A funeral service will be held Saturday, September 17, 2011 at 11am in the Farley-Sullivan Funeral Home, 34 Beaver Rd., Wethersfield with the Rev. Dionisy Nalitov of St. Panteleimon Church, Hartford officiating. Interment will follow in Cedar Hill Cemetery (Section 24), 453 Fairfield Ave., Hartford. Friends may call on the family Saturday prior to the service, from 10-11am.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions in her honor be made to The School of
American Ballet, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, New York 10023.
To extend online expressions of sympathy or for further information, please visit farleysullivan.com.
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