Sonia Sellars

Sonia M. Sellars, age 94 and a long-time resident of the Packanack Lake community in Wayne, New Jersey passed away peacefully on Tuesday, June 8, 2021.

Sonia was born in Larvik Norway on September 30, 1926. The daughter of Stanley Matthews and Gerda (Baglin) Matthews, Sonia’s father was a captain in the British Merchant Marines. He met Gerda while in port in Norway. They fell in love and married and, in 1928, when Sonia was two years old, her father, having been offered citizenship in the United States, moved the family to Brooklyn, NY. Soon after, they moved to the Westerly section of Staten Island, NY where Sonia grew up. Having been blessed with a sharp intellect and a determined spirit, she graduated two years early and with honors from Port Richmond High School and immediately enrolled in Katharine Gibbs Secretarial School to prepare for a career in the workplace.

Upon completion of her education, Sonia entered the workforce as a secretary with Wellington Sears, a textile firm located in New York City at Worth Street and West Broadway.

Sonia actually met her husband-to-be when they were young children. His name was Eric Elliot Sellars and they knew each other from singing together in the choir at the Emanuel Lutheran Church in Staten Island which was pastored by Eric’s father, Reverend Fred Sellars. When they came of age, they fell in love and married on April 14, 1950 at the same church. Sonia and Eric lived for a short time in Staten Island before moving across the river to a little summer community in the Packanack Lake section of Wayne, New Jersey. It turned out to be a lovely place to raise their two daughters, Robin and Laurie. Sonia settled into her primary role of mother and homemaker but managed to keep active in various outside endeavors. Sonia utilized her gifts of being skilled at working with numbers combined with a penchant for fastidious record keeping by serving as the treasurer of the Packanack Lake community’s monthly newsletter called the Pack-A-News, and also as treasurer of the Packanack Community Church. If that wasn’t enough to keep her busy, she also served as treasurer of Healing the Children – a private, humanitarian organization that partners with American healthcare providers to help underserved children around the world to get the medical care that would otherwise be unobtainable. She also served as treasurer for Doctors Without Borders – an international organization that provides lifesaving medical humanitarian care.

Sonia always had plenty of spare energy for projects around her home too. She was an expert gardener of both flowers and vegetables who enjoyed the particular challenge of growing rare plants. Because of her knowledge about the plant world people would frequently stop by her house for advice that Sonia was always more than happy to give. She also loved to sew and knit and care for her precious dogs and cats that enriched her life over the years – Poncho, Yazoo, Molly, and Duke to name a few. The kitchen was also a place where Sonia liked to be. She was an excellent cook who made a fantastic lasagna that was right up there with the finest Italian cooks. On summer nights you could usually find her playing tennis at the Packanack Lake tennis courts and she also relished the time spent with friends playing bridge and gathering for dances and other social gatherings at the Packanack Lake Clubhouse.

Sonia was a kind-hearted woman who truly cared about the welfare of fellow humans – both those she knew personally as well as total strangers. She had a real soft spot in her heart for little children and for many years, she and husband Eric hosted kids who were flown to the United States for surgery for cleft pallet repair.

Sonia was predeceased by her beloved husband Eric in 1980, her two daughters: Robin Sellars in 2006 and Laurie Jean Sellars in 1994, and her sister Thelma in 1979. Sonia is survived by her grandsons: Jacob Vander Weide, Joseph Eiche and Eric Anthony Sellars, her brother Edward Kaye Matthews of Denver, Colorado, and her nephew Stanley and wife Susan McMillen.

In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in Sonia’s name are asked to consider one of two charitable organizations:

Healing the Children

New Jersey Chapter

112 5th Ave

Hawthorne, NJ  07506

To donate online CLICK HERE

Doctors Without Borders USA

P.O. Box 5030

Hagerstown, MD 21741-5030

To download the mail-in form CLICK HERE

To donate online CLICK HERE