Sonia Peres

Sonia Peres was born in 1923 in Mizoch

Sonia Gelman was born in 1923 in Mizoch, then in Poland and now in Ukraine, to Malka and Yaakov Gelman. In 1927 she moved to Mandatory Palestine with her parents, her older sister Batya and her younger brother Itzik. The family settled in the Ben Shemen Youth Village, where her mother was housemother and her father taught carpentry.

She studied at Ben Shemen, where she met Shimon Persky, later Shimon Peres. He left for the group that founded kibbutz Alumot, while she stayed to finish her matriculation studies. The two kept in touch mainly by letters.

During World War II she joined the British Army and worked as a practical nurse in a field hospital in the Western Desert. After a clash with the head nurse she was sent to a heavy vehicle course and later drove army trucks.

In May 1945 she married Shimon Peres, and they had three children. She kept away from the media and volunteered quietly, helping hand out food to the needy and working for IDF widows. As the prime minister's wife she hosted visiting leaders but refused interviews and stayed out of politics.

When her husband became president in 2007, she stayed in their apartment in Neve Avivim, and the two lived apart. In this period she changed her name to Sonia Gal. She died in 2011 in Tel Aviv and was buried, at her request, at Ben Shemen.