Sonia Sprung, 97

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Dr. Sonia Sprung was born Dec. 12, 1921, and passed away peacefully on Jan. 25. She was born in the Ukraine to Clara and Victor Mendelson. 

She had one sibling, Sara, who encouraged her to enroll in medical school. Her studies were interrupted by WWII. As the Nazis started bombing her town, she and her parents escaped and traveled 1,500 miles to Kazakhstan where she was able to resume her studies and become a doctor. After the war she and her family left the Soviet Union and went to a displaced persons camp in Munich, Germany, where she worked for the JDC treating refugees who arrived from Eastern Europe after the war. Her only child, Edie Nadler, was born there. 

In 1951, the family received permission to immigrate to the US. When she arrived to Brooklyn, New York, she had to renew all her credentials, which involved becoming an intern and resident and passing exams in English to become certified again in the medical profession. The family then moved to Providence where she was in private practice for 40 years as a pediatrician. 

She was a member of Temple Emanu-El. She reluctantly retired at 75 and then started traveling the world. Thirty-six cruises took her to all the places she ever dreamed of visiting. She is survived by her daughter, Edie Nadler (Jonathan Nadler); granddaughters, Lisa (Masa) and Jessica (Ryan); great-grandchildren, Miles, Ruby and Frankie as well as Shara Mendelson, Mischa Mendelson, Gideon Mendelson, Tom Tomeo and Owen, Leo and Isabella Mendelson Tomeo.