Sonia Lynn Hetherington's Obituary
Sonia was born in Texas but grew up in Tulsa, Okla. In 1963, she married Bill and moved to Kansas where their children, Dave and Debbie, were born. The family relocated to Richardson in 1969 with Arco. In the 1970s, Sonia started a country western and square dance shop at Mockingbird and Greenville and was in business until 1988, when the country and western dance craze was ebbing. She worked for Skaggs Alpha Beta in its advertising production department until the company was sold to Albertson’s. She was a buyer at Fox Meyer and retired to take care of her mother in 1999.Sonia had always been interested in law enforcement and in 2007 talked to Sue Stevens, former volunteer coordinator for RPD. “When Sue called and asked if I wanted to be in the Citizen Police Academy (CPA) class, I jumped at the chance.”After completing CPA, Sonia signed up with VIPS. For 11 years she devoted two days a week to the Richardson Police Department and two to the VA Hospital. Unfortunately, she had to give up the VA last year. At RPD she has been on the Awards Banquet Committee, done some work in Investigations and has been with Property & Evidence since she started. Sonia works with impounded cars, on inventory, and has made trips to destroy guns and drugs. VIPS highlights have been acting the roles of a prisoner for a mock fire drill and of a hostage during a SWAT exercise.Sonia loves to read, mysteries in particular, and has a spreadsheet of more than 2,400 books she’s read. The genealogy of her family and her husband’s has been an interest since the 1980s.Sonia loved the game of soccer when her kids played. At the time, there was a men’s recreational league, but not one forwomen. “I was in a group of women who wanted to start a women’s soccer league back in the 70s.” Sonia was a member of the original board that drafted the rules and regulations for the first recreational soccer league for women in the Dallas area. “We started with eight teams, and when I stopped playing had over 100 teams in the league. I played two seasons a year for 14 years. None of us had played sports before. The exercise was terrific. We practiced twice a week and played on Sunday afternoon. We went to San Antonio every year to play in a tournament. We won the tournament three times. Loads of fun.”A couple from Tulsa that Sonia and Bill first met in 1967 also retired to this area. “We still play cards once a week on Saturday night after having a cocktail and going out to eat.”Sonia won the RPD Volunteer of the Year award twice, and we appreciate her dedication and talent!
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