- Date Of Birth: December 4, 1939
- Date Of Death: December 19, 2019
- State: Florida
Sondra Rae Swindel Galperin
Sondra, adoring wife of Arnold for 46 years (widowed 2009), mother of Noelle (Ernesto) and Gregory (Polina), flight attendant, dedicated volunteer and community leader, passed away peacefully on Dec 19th from lung cancer, having been diagnosed a month prior.
Born Dec 4, 1939 in Poynor, Missouri to educators and cattle farmers Mabel Alice Cox Swindel and Ray Eslie Swindel, Sondra grew up in nearby Doniphan. She excelled in academics, and was named co-Valedictorian of her middle school and Head Majorette in high school. Sondra majored in Spanish at Lindenwood College, earning multiple scholarships. After graduation, she joined Pan American World Airways in its glory days, serving as a stewardess on Caribbean and South American routes. She later worked with Pan Am management on transoceanic flights and in training new generations of flight attendants at their Miami base.
In 1963, she married the man she fell in love with at sixteen, Air Force/Air National Guard Major Arnold Benjamin Galperin. Together they had two children in Puerto Rico, and then moved the family to Miami in 1970 where Sondra became active in many local organizations, often holding offices and board positions, including the Pinecrest Elementary PTA, Cub Scouts, the Venetian Aquatic Club, World Wings Miami Chapter, Friends of Fairchild Tropical Gardens, the Embroiderers’ Guild of America, the South Florida Calligraphy Guild, the South Dade Parliamentary Law Unit, the Miami Blue Chapter of the North American Butterfly Association, and Funding Arts Network.
Predeceased by her parents and husband, Sondra is survived by her children, grandchildren Nava and Zack Galperin, her sister Judy (John) Miller, nieces Shelley (Richard Kraut) Grant and Cindy (Steve) Mixdorf, nephews Michael (Linda) Gorosh and Johnny (Astrid) Miller, and 6 great-nephews and -nieces.
