Beloved music teacher Sonia Boerke Padgett remembered for her talent, love of community

Longtime Northport resident Sonia Boerke Padgett passed away this summer, leaving behind a legacy she and her husband helped build within the local musical community. 

An aspiring opera singer, Sonia came to New York with her husband, also a musician, to pursue their dreams. Although she was offered a role with Metropolitan Opera performer Jerome Hines, she couldn’t afford the babysitter or train rides, and had to turn down the opportunity, her daughter Rebecca told the Journal. It was one of many sacrifices Sonia made for her family, Rebecca said, and what kept Sonia in Northport, where she was a preschool teacher at the First Presbyterian Church and then a music teacher at Pulaski Road Elementary School. 

Sonia is the mother of four children, grandmother of seven and great grandmother of one. Beyond the love for her family, she had a great love for community and thought of the First Presbyterian Church, where she was music director, as her second home. “There was such a passionate love for music, but also for community, and those things just came together with a desire to help grow the arts in Northport,” Rebecca said. 

Sonia and her husband Bob, alongside many other local talents, sacrificed so much to build strong music programs in Northport, Rebecca said. “Both in the church and the schools, we were so fortunate to have them. The arts are undervalued in so many places, and we’ve always been lucky to have that legacy passed down by people like my mom and dad, who built so many of our programs.” 

No surprise, Sonia’s children grew up with music as their second language. Today, three of four children are career musicians: a professional cellist, music teacher, and piano player and composer. “Music was a natural thing that was always happening around us,” Rebecca said. “It was part of every day.” 

In memory of the talented and community-oriented couple, the Robert and Sonia Padgett Music Scholarship Fund helps underwrite an annual scholarship for a graduating senior musician from Northport High School. A donation for the fund is scheduled to be approved at tonight’s board of education meeting. 

Below is Sonia’s biography, written and provided by her family: 

Sonia Boerke Padgett passed away on August 27, 2024, just days before her 93rd birthday. An only child, she was born in Evansville, Indiana on September 7, 1931 to Casper and Alice Etta (White) Boerke.

Sonia attended public school in Owensville, Indiana, graduating as valedictorian of her senior class. Throughout her schooling, she was recognized as a gifted and highly skilled singer, receiving many opportunities to use her talent at school events, church services and community gatherings. Sonia was already performing with the local dance band for the senior prom when she was in the sixth grade. She also worked with her mother at their family restaurant in downtown Owensville.

Early college years found Sonia pursuing a music degree at Evansville, Indiana (now the University of Evansville). Before welcoming her elder two children, Sonia taught public school music in Mount Vernon, Indiana. 

Years later, she would become a preschool teacher at First Presbyterian Church of Northport, New York before her tenure with the Northport School District music department, most notably as the general and vocal music teacher at Pulaski Elementary School. She would earn her Master’s Degree from Stony Brook University while deftly juggling teaching, parenting and other responsibilities.

Both Sonia and Bob, her beloved husband, were always involved in church music, and Sonia was the Director of Music at First Presbyterian Church for 24 years, where she worked with adult, youth and children’s choirs, often presenting large scale performances with orchestra.

Sonia met Bob Padgett – the love of her life – in 1950, while still an undergraduate. Bob had returned to Evansville College, his own recent alma mater, as a conductor on the hunt for hired soloists for an upcoming Messiah performance he would be conducting in Waterman, Illinois. Fortuitously, he promptly chose Sonia to be his mezzo soloist. A whirlwind romance followed swiftly, engagement subtly implied on their third date. The ensuing months were full of Canasta with their families and letter writing across the miles, concluding with their marriage just over a year later on June 4, 1951.

So that Sonia could pursue her singing career in the heart of the opera world, a one-year adventure to New York was planned. Bob took a band and orchestra teaching position on Long Island, working alongside other Northport music faculty giants as they were pioneering the district’s fledgling music program. When they had left Indiana for the journey, their children, Kari and Gretchen, were just two years old and an infant, respectively. As life would have it, Sonia and Bob never did leave Long Island, instead spending their lives and careers building and growing the district’s rich music programs, founding and leading church choirs and music programs, nobly and variously serving God and their community. 

Sonia continued her pursuit of opera as time would permit, recognized often through the years as a gifted and accomplished mezzo soprano, traveling weekly into New York City for her studies with Karin Branzell of the Metropolitan Opera. She practiced daily in the basement studio and was offered more opportunities than she could accept. Budgets, family demands and her love of her children constrained her pursuits increasingly through the years, and ultimately Sonia’s artistic pursuits found their most enduring expression in her work as an educator, conductor and music director here in Northport.

Padgett family life, especially in these earlier years, when work allowed, was blessed with games, puzzles, family tv nights, badminton, swimming and ice cream. And – always – music.

Late summer in those years often saw happy family road trips back to the midwest for wonderful reunions with grandparents, siblings, cousins and friends. Daughter Rebecca and son Bob had come along a number of years later with much fanfare and not a little surprise – added plot twists in a life of service, bringing great joy to all. 

A far more bitter plot twist, though, took husband Bob from Sonia in the prime of their personal and professional lives. With the “good life” and likely retirement only another ten years off, Bob, then 56 years old, passed far too soon. The sudden loss rocked not only the Padgett family, but all of Northport, the surrounding community and the music world. An unexpected widow at just 52 years old, Sonia was now left to raise their younger two children alone, continuing her work at Pulaski and church, facing a far different life each day, future prospects suddenly unsure.

Sonia’s endurance through those years, seeing Rebecca and Bob through college educations and building highly regarded music programs at both school and church, was (in her own words as well) a testament to God’s strength and co-laboring partnership – as well as, to be sure, her own sacrificial perseverance out of love for those in her care.

Sonia’s solo years were continually impactful, adventuresome and periodically cheating death. She traveled extensively in the United States and abroad, adventuring across Russia, Europe, China, Hawaii, as well as favorite spots and family venues domestically. Wherever she went, she was known and loved, charming and touching lives – a listening ear and social butterfly. 

In retirement, Sonia remained active in the community, in her church, and her many, varied social circles. Her daily mochas while holding court at Starbucks were a highlight for her, even as she brought joy to many (and played the occasional game of trivia). Family was never far. Sonia shared many years in the family home with daughter Rebecca, cherishing her love, companionship and steadfast, graceful care. As Sonia’s health declined, caregiver Maria Cruz came into all of our lives, adding joy, dignity and love to mom’s final years. Sonia delighted in her role as a doting mother and grandmother – even, shortly before her passing, spending cherished time with her first great-grandchild. We will all miss her deeply.

Sonia Padgett is survived by her children Kari Caldwell (the late Dr. George), Gretchen Taylor (the Reverend George), Rebecca Padgett, and Robert Padgett (Saskia); grandchildren Ashley Simms (Greg), Dr. Geoffrey Taylor (Dr. Kevin Narag), Nathaniel Taylor, Jacob Taylor, Brenna Caldwell, Rachel Caldwell, Zachary Padgett, great granddaughter Eva Boerke Simms, and many beloved nieces, nephews and loved ones. She was preceded in death by her husband, Robert Potter Padgett, son-in-law Dr. George Caldwell, her parents and parents-in-law, and sister-in-law and brother-in-law Pat and Bud Hoffer.