Sonna Mae (Purintun) Phillips passed away in her sleep on Sunday, June 16, 2019 at Hyland Crossings Memory Care in Sun Prairie, WI. She joins her husband Frank in eternal peace to whom she was married for 71 years. On January 9, 1928, she was born in Barron, WI the daughter of Leroy and Mary Scott Purintun. Sonna (as in Donna, as she liked to say) lived her childhood with her seven siblings near Chetek, WI. Her family struggled through the Depression years after losing their father when she was six years old. Her mom, oldest brother William and family in the Chetek area kept it all together with love and strength. She and her twin sister, Selma, graduated from high school in Chetek in 1946. She met Frank Phillips at a dance and married him on April 30, 1947. She moved in with the Phillips family who lived south of Weyerhaeuser, WI. At 23 years old, Frank was the head of his family and they both nurtured his five younger siblings who were still at home in 1947. Raising five children of their own, the pair continued to operate the family farm until 1996. They sold the farm and moved to Cameron where they lived for 21 years. In 2017 they moved to Sun Prairie, WI. First and foremost, Sonna was a wife and a mother. She was a strong coworker striving with Frank to make a home and maintain a livelihood from the farm. She loved babies and had five of them, praying with them every night and insisting they attend Sunday school and music lessons. All five of their children graduated from college. Sonna planted gardens and canned the produce. She was the chief baker starting in the 40’s--six loaves of bread a week. She made wonderful jams and jellies and sewed her children’s clothes. She celebrated holidays with her sister Selma and family and looked forward to the visits of the many brothers, sisters and in-laws in the summer. She was a crafts woman who crocheted several acres of bedspreads, tablecloths, and doilies true to her Irish-Scot heritage. She made intricate quilts, teddy bears and other stuffed toys. Sonna and Family
She is survived by her daughters: Jacqueline Martindale and partner Jerry Neis & Faye Sharp Phillips all of Sun Prairie, WI, sons: Gary & Sandy (Gronski) Phillips of Chetek, WI, Rick Phillips and partner Barb Jeffries of Cincinnati, OH & Wayne and Pamela (Preston) Phillips of Hudson, WI, grandchildren: Matthew (Heather) Martindale, Meagan Strobl, Travis (Yuko) Phillips, Tracy Phillips, Bryant Phillips, Bennett (Dawn) Phillips, Kelli Hoover, Sean Sharp, Katie Preston (Yohn Versteegen), Eli Phillips & Lisa (Dan) Ballweg, 10 great-grandchildren, sisters: twin Selma (Stanley)Walczak of Chetek, WI & Lenora Vana of Chetek, WI, her beloved in-laws: John Phillips of Stamford, CT, Fran Dobrowolski of Chetek, WI/Sarasota, FL, Rachel (Richard) Livingston of Davis, CA, James (Dorothy) Phillips of Grand Rapids, MI, Marjorie Fitzgerald of Phillips, WI & Patricia Kahut of Minong, WI, as well as many nieces and nephews. Preceding her in death were her parents, sister: Jean Zakas & brothers: William, Merle, Charles & Harley Purintun.
Funeral Services
Funeral services will be (were) held at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, June 24, 2019 at Maranatha Evangelical Free Church in Rice Lake, WI with Pastor Cody Kargus officiating. Visitation will be (was) held from 4-7 p.m. Sunday at the Rausch-Lundeen Funeral Home in Cameron & also for the hour prior to services at the church on Monday. Her final resting place is beside Frank in Lakeview Cemetery in Chetek, WI. Arrangements were with Rausch-Lundeen Funeral Homes, Cameron and Dallas.
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