Goodbye to an old friend.

[sbisson]

Anyone working in technology journalism or PR in the UK will have met Sonia Howell-Jones. She was one of those few people who could take a professional relationship, and turn it into a deep and enduring friendship.

She was one of the first PRs I met, while working on one of my first articles, and she was a friend from our second phone call. Sonia helped marypcb and me many times, and when she retired we stayed in touch, driving across West London for dinner at her or our place. She even helped us find the cats that now share our home...

Sadly Sonia had a sudden stroke last night, and died this morning. She will be missed by many, including most of the folk on CIX, where her online presence "shj" was an important contributor to many conferences.

I know that anything I write won't capture more than a few facets of a wise, funny and welcoming friend.

Goodbye Sonia. We'll miss you.

Comments

Re: Grim news.

[wendyg.livejournal.com]

The memory that springs to my mind was of her at one of my birthday parties - not the 50th, but maybe the 49th - frying doughnuts for me to hand out to guests. What was especially kind about that was that Sonia, as a diabetic, wasn't going to eat any of them.

wg