Sonja D. (Peterson) Catania, 65,

died on Friday, Sept. 2, 2005. She was born on June 4, 1940, in Stoughton, Wis. Her parents were Alfred and Harriette Peterson.

Sonja was raised in the family home on Depot Hill, which was built by her great-grandfather, Mayor Samuel A. Peterson. Sonja was raised by her grandparents Alfred T. and Julia C. (Dolly) Peterson.

Sonja is survived by her husband Carmen, two sons through marriage, Mario and Anthony, and two grandsons, Joshua and Nicholas, whom she loved as her own.

Sonja graduated from Stoughton High School in 1958 and attended Milton College with a full music scholarship before transferring to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Sonja graduated in 1963 with a degree in Elementary Education before returning to receive her degree in English in 1965. She received her Fifth Year at the University of Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash. Her teaching experience includes Union High School, Hartford, Wis., Elston and Rogers high schools in Michigan City, Ind., and Bellarmine Preparatory High School and Downing Elementary School in Tacoma, Wash.

On Feb. 23, 2001, Sonja married her "one and only true love," Carmen Catania at St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Merrill, Wis. On Nov. 29, 2003, they were married in St. Augustine Catholic church in Harrison, Wis. This culminated a romance begun in 1961 while both were students at the UW-Whitewater.

Sonja began studying voice at age 11, beginning her studies with Mrs. R.M.S. Heffner at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1952 and continued studying with Vera Wykell-Adams at Milton College. Sonja sang at many local churches and various clubs and organizations while a youth in Stoughton. She was a featured soloist with the Hartford, Wis. Community ‚horus, the Canterbury Singers, Honors Musicale, the New Sound Singers and the University of Puget Sound Community Chorus of Tacoma.

Most recently Sonja sang with the Pro Musica in Wausau, Wis., the University of Wisconsin La Crosse Choral Union and as a soloist with the La Crosse Da Capo Concert Band under the direction of her husband Carmen Catania.

Sonja was the featured vocal soloist with the Bavarian Brass Band and a member of the Madrigal Singers in Green Valley.

Sonja and Carmen lived at Long Lake in the Harrison Hills area near Rhinelander, Wis., until moving to Green Valley in December 2003. Sonja returned to Wisconsin in May of 2004. After receiving treatment for ovarian cancer at the Gundersen/Lutheran Cancer Center in La Crosse, Wis., she returned in June of 2005 to Green Valley to find comfort in her own home while she prepared to fly away from this earth to the home of our Lord.

A memorial Mass and celebration will be conducted in Green Valley on Sept. 16, at 10 a.m. at Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church. A second celebration of her life will be held on Sunday, Oct. 2, at St. Augustine Catholic Church in Harrison, Wis.

Friends are asked not to send flowers but to please make a donation to their local animal shelter in Sonja's name.