Sondra Lou (Haney-Pugh) Henkel, 73, of Mendota died Aug. 18, 2015, in Rockford Memorial Hospital.

Services will be at 11:30 a.m. Saturday in Merritt Funeral Home, Mendota, with the Rev. Hogun Kim officiating. Cremation rites will be accorded after the funeral.

Visitation will be from 9:30 a.m. until time of services Saturday at the funeral home.
She was born Nov. 3, 1941, in Carmi to Everett Paul and Wanda (Smithson) Haney.

Early in her life she was adopted by her mother's second husband, William Pugh.
She grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and began a family there before her move to rural life in the 1970s. She worked in several fields, including with the mentally disabled. In 1990 she became an in-home daycare provider and in 1991 Sondra became a licensed foster parent and touched the lives of countless foster children. She spent the next 22 years helping some of the neediest children, some of whom to this day call her mom or grandma.

Sondra was a creative and adventurous lady. She turned a room in her house into a craft workshop. She also was a songwriter, horseback rider and loved to entertain guests.

Sondra is survived by two daughters, Dea (Tommy) Aldridge of Madison, Tenn., and Kory (Bill) Wood of Peru; three sons, Ronald (Carol) Karns of Wichita, Kan., Ryan Karns of Troy Grove and Jacob (Rebecca) Henkel of Antioch; 11 grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; and one sister, Michele Rendo of Coloma, Mich.

She was preceded in death by her parents; one brother, Charlie Pugh, and one great-grandchild.

Memorials may be directed to the donor's choice.