1949 to Pascual & Monica Popoy, he was the youngest of five children. He attended high school at Holy
Angel College and graduated from Republic Central College in 1971.
His father, Pascual, was a US Army WWII veteran, and at the young age of 19, Sonny took advantage of
his natural US citizenship and moved to the United States. He joined his older brother, Conrado and his
family in Gorman, CA. There, his brother helped him to get a job as a bus boy and eventually a cook.
In 1973, Sonny went back to the Philippines to marry his love, Teresita Popoy. They married on
December 16, 1973. Not too long after, he came back to the U.S. to prepare for his wife to join him. In
1974, Tess joined him and they started their life together in Earlimart, CA. There they raised their three
daughters. After years as a farmworker, in 1991 Sonny worked at the Walmart distribution center in
Porterville, CA in janitorial maintenance. He worked for Walmart for 26 years, retiring in 2017.
Some of Sonny’s fondest memories were the summers spent in Alaska during the 1980’s, deep sea
fishing (he was an avid fisherman), tending to his garden from tomatoes, eggplant, chilis, and
persimmon, and of course spending time with his family. Family was everything to him. He was a proud
Popoy, through and through.
Sonny passed away on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at age 71. He is survived by his beloved wife, Teresita
Popoy, three daughters Charina Monica Sanchez and her husband Ernest Sanchez, Eliza Popoy
Hernandez and her husband Oscar Hernandez, Kimberly Popoy Williams and her husband Corey
Williams, his five grandchildren, Branson Alfredo Sanchez, Everett Santos Sanchez, Patrick Chace
Hernandez, Frederick Jude Hernandez, Harrison Luke Hernandez, as well as his two siblings, brother
Ernesto Popoy and sister Rebecca Torres. Sonny is preceded in death by his parents, Pascual and
Monica Popoy, and his older brothers Dominador Popoy and Conrado Popoy.
