In 1960, Sonia Ponce de Leon fled Cuba and a middle-class life of servants and maids for the United States.
Her father, a prominent attorney and law professor, had been mayor of Havana. Her husband was an obstetrician/gynecologist.
"I remember she said a lot of the Cuban women who came over brought a cooking book with them," said her eldest son, Adolpho Ponce de Leon of Smyrna. "They didn't know how to cook."
In November 1960, she, her husband and children settled in South Florida. Her husband, Dr. Adolfo Isidoro Ponce de Leon, came first because his wife was concerned Cuba's Communist government might force him to stay. The family eventually relocated to Milledgeville because there was a need for doctors at the state mental facility.
Dr. Ponce de Leon eventually became a psychiatrist, a career change that brought the family to Decatur. There, Mrs. Ponce de Leon continued what had been a trademark in her homeland: attending and supporting the Roman Catholic Church. She attended Decatur's St. Thomas More Catholic Church and later the Atlanta churches Immaculate Heart of Mary and Holy Spirit Catholic Church.
"She was always very religious," her son said. "It came from her roots. She had a good friend who was real close to her who had been a nun in Cuba."
"We all had to go to church on Sunday, but I don't think any of us were as devoted as my mom," said another son, Alberto Ponce de Leon of Atlanta. "She had even wanted to be a nun at one time."
On Saturday, Sonia Blanco Ponce de Leon of Sandy Springs died at Piedmont Hospital from complications of colon cancer. She was 81. A memorial Mass is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Atlanta. Cremation Society of the South in Marietta is in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Ponce de Leon lived in Cuba for 31 years. She attended Sacred Heart Catholic School in Havana, where she was an award-winning pupil. She volunteered with an organization that worked to spread the Catholic religion. She wed her husband when she was 18; they were married for 60 years. He died a few years ago.
The Ponce de Leons fled Cuba because they felt oppressed, something they didn't want their children to experience. They were grateful for the opportunity to re-establish themselves in America.
"It was tough, but most of her family got out," said Alberto Ponce de Leon. "I really never heard them complain at all. She never went back, but I think she would have liked to have gone back."
In Atlanta, Mrs. Ponce de Leon devoted herself to being a homemaker and all it encompasses. She attended Mass regularly and, when the children got older, became more involved with various activities and ministries.
"She did it because it made her happy and at peace with things," said a daughter, Sonia Sorensen of Atlanta. "She was not a pushy person at all. If she wanted something for us, she just prayed about it."
Additional survivors include two sisters, Berta Estevez and Estela Busto and a brother, Alberto Blanco, all of Miami; two other daughters, Ana Card and Elena Fenner, both of Atlanta; 10 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
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