LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Gertrude Elaine Hogg Sonnichsen

Gertrude Elanie Hogg Sonnichsen, beloved wife of Thomas Henry Sonnichsen, died on May 30 at the age of 87. Everyone called her Trudy. She and Tom were residents of Lafayette and prior to that, they lived in Rossmoor.

Trudy was a world traveler and began her life in Pennsylvania. Her relatives from England and Scotland were Quakers; They arrived in the new world at the time of William Penn. They were farmers and involved in the beginnings of our government (at the time of the Indian Head Penny and the Mason Dixon Line).

Trudy left her home in Oxford, Pennsylvania for Bucknell University. She married Thomas Henry Sonnichsen, who had just returned to Bucknell after serving in the Ghost Army in WWII. They had three children, Linda Bevard, Jamie Bonetto and Jennifer Robinson.

Because of her husband's job, Trudy and the family moved many times. Their moves included seven years in Europe (France, Holland and Italy). This enabled herto return home and open her own travel agency in Mountain Lakes, NJ.

Due to the success of her travel agency, Boulevard Travel, she was one of the first travel agents to be invited to Mainland China when it opened its doors to the west in the 1970s.

She and her husband were residents in Mountain Lakes for 40 years and married for 68 years. She was well loved and is survived by her husband, Thomas Henry Sonnichsen, age 93, and her two remaining daughters, Jamie Bonetto and Jennifer Robinson; six Grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

Express condolences at oakparkhillschapel.com.