Sonia Gaye Bolin

Sonia was born the youngest of five children in New Westminster, BC to Harvey and Florence Bolin. Born with Down Syndrome they made the difficult decision to place her in foster care with the Attridge family. Her foster parents raised her with their family close to our home in Coquitlam. We were in touch but became a bigger part of her life when she became an adult and moved into a group home in Port Moody in the 1980s. Sonia was so happy and proud to have two families!

Sonia was educated at Sunny Cedars School, Rochester Elementary, Centennial High School (all in Coquitlam) and Vancouver Community College. She was a part of the generation of people with disabilities who experienced both segregated and integrated school environments.

She lived a good life, full of experiences and adventures in her group home with Simon Fraser Society for Community Living (now Kinsight). Sonia worked at BC Hydro for 23 years. She was involved with Special Olympics and Theatre Terrific through the 90s and aughts. Sonia loved crafts and became a serious scrapbooker in the early 2000s. She attended many scrapbooking events and weekend retreats with her group of fellow scrapbookers. Sonia was very social and had many friends and acquaintances in the community.

After many years at St George House, Sonia and her support staff, Tina decided to share a home and live together. Sonia and Tina were very close and shared their friends and families. In a sense, Sonia now had three families!

Unfortunately, Sonia’s health started to decline in 2019. She was showing signs of dementia and started losing her balance. She had a bad fall in October 2022 causing her to break a leg and after 11 years of living with Tina, she moved to a group home in Maple Ridge, 122nd St House. The staff and the residents at the home welcomed Sonia with open arms and gave Sonia the highest quality support through the last year of her life.

She had been hospitalized many times throughout her adult life with pneumonia until she and her poor lungs finally gave up the fight.

Sonia is predeceased by her birth parents Harvey (1995), Florence (2024), foster parents Ted Attridge (2003) and Margaret Attridge (1995).

She is also predeceased by her brother Ron Bolin (Valerie) (2007), niece Cari Lecky (2012) and great nephew baby Dominic Davies (2019).

She is lovingly remembered by her birth sisters Karen (Mike), Shelley Davies (Willy), brother Phil Bolin (AnneMarie) and sister-in-law Valerie Bolin. Also, her foster sister Elain Chretien (Denis), brothers Gary Attridge (Cathy) and Doug Attridge (Heather).

She will be missed by her many Aunts and Uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews.

Also missing Sonia are her many friends and caregivers, especially her 'honourary sister' Tina Matysiak.

We would like to thank Arcus Community Resources for their kindness and care this past year. We would also like to thank Kinsight and the Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion for their support over the years.

Her favorite colour was pink so if possible, let's wear some pink!