Sona Wyman

Dr. Sona Elizabeth Averill Wyman passed away peacefully on July 27 at her residence in Marlborough. She was born in Bangor, Maine, on Aug. 17, 1926, the daughter of Robert Wallace Averill and Venia Elizabeth (Keene) Averill. She is predeceased by her husband of 71 years, Rev. Dr. Henry Wyman, whom she met at the Bangor Public Library, and her sister, Ruth Averill Smith. She leaves behind her daughter, Rev. Susan Wyman and husband Rev. Dr. Steven Blackburn of Pleasant Valley, Connecticut, and her son, Stephen Wyman and wife Nancy (Thompson) Wyman of Hopkinton, as well as four grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and nieces and nephews.

Dr. Wyman was a 1944 graduate of Bangor High School and received her Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Maine in 1948, all the while working at the Bangor Public Library. In 1950, Rev. Dr. Wyman and Dr. Wyman moved to Windham, New York, where Dr. Wyman worked as a school librarian. Their next move was to Columbia, Connecticut, in 1952, and then to North Olmsted, Ohio, in 1956. It was in Ohio at Case Western Reserve University that Dr. Wyman received her master’s in library science and was the head librarian at North Olmsted High School. In 1968, the couple moved their family to Patchogue, New York, and Dr. Wyman eventually became the district coordinator of media for all of the Three Village public schools. She attended Hofstra University in Hempsted, New York, and earned a doctorate of library science. After retirement, she and her husband returned to her childhood home in Bangor, Maine.

Dr. Wyman was a member of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) and a direct descendant of Frances Deighton Williams, for whom the Bangor NSDAR is named. She was a member of the Mayflower Descendants in the State of Maine and a member of the Magna Charta Society. She had a great love for her family, friends and pets and a voracious appetite for reading.

Contributions in her memory may be made to a charity of your choice or to the Bangor Public Library, 145 Harlow Street, Bangor, ME 04401 or to the Bangor Humane Society, 693 Mt. Hope Avenue, Bangor, ME 04401.

Friends are invited to a graveside service at Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor, Maine, meeting at the Cemetery’s Superintendent’s building (State Street entrance) by 10:45 a.m. on Sept. 16. Graveside service will take place at 11 a.m. Immediately following the service, all are invited to an informal luncheon. Details will be handed out at that time.

Condolences to the family may be expressed at BrookingsSmith.com.

Obituaries are submissions, typically from funeral homes, that are not subject to the same level of editorial oversight as the rest of the Hopkinton Independent. Obituaries may be edited for grammatical and factual mistakes and clarifications and shortened for space considerations.