Sonja Benjaminsson Zorrilla

ZORRILLA-Sonja Benjaminsson. 1916-2002. The camera pans the crowd and then freezes on the strikingly beautiful young woman waiting for the ship that will carry her to safety in New York. She has barely escaped the Nazi invasion of France and has spent the last three months in Spain hoping for the arrival of a ship bound for America. The young woman is Sonja Benjaminsson Zorrilla. Her biography is being written, and the movie about the fairytale life she led could still be filmed. Sonja, who died on March 22, 2002, was the daughter of Olafur Benjaminsson and Marie Wendel Benjaminsson. She spent most of her childhood in Reykjavik until polio struck, and the teenager was sent to Denmark for therapy and to attend cooking school. Sonja never did learn to cook, but she substantially regained her strength through great persistence, effort, and will. Her strong independent nature and her great sense of adventure soon took her off to conquer the world. She went to Wiesbaden, Germany where relatives could look after her while she attended art school. But the Nazis were coming to power, and Sonja soon moved to London where she continued her studies in art and also began flying lessons. One day, much to her chagrin, her flight instructor sent her skyward alone. Everthing went well until it was time to land and, as she pruned a few trees on the way down, she decided to end her flying career. While in London, she met a young man from the Russian royal family and, when she moved to Paris one year later, she already knew many of the people in the royal family enclave there. Sonja tried her hand at fashion design and was also offered modeling jobs, although modeling at that time was not considered proper for an upstanding young woman. Later on, however, her hands did appear on the cover of ``Vogue'' magazine. Sonja's beauty and charm continued to attract the attention of men and women alike. Rose Kennedy became a friend in Paris, and Aristotle Onassis was extremely interested in the young beauty. She refused his marriage proposal, believing the relationship would never last, but they remained friends throughout his life. As the Nazis began their invasion of France, Sonja fled to Spain and finally boarded a ship bound for New York. The trip was harrowing through submarine infested waters and, upon sight of the Statue of Liberty, Sonja knew she had found her new home. Aristotle Onassis introduced her to a very suave and handsome Argentine named Alberto Zorrilla. Alberto was an Olympic swimming gold medalist and had become a national hero in Argentina. He was also purported to be the best tango dancer in New York City. The striking couple was married and enjoyed a long-term union until Alberto's death. Serendipitous meetings continued throughout Sonja's lifetime, adding John Loeb, Sonja Henie, Richard Rodgers, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, among many others, to her long list of friends. She continued to paint, mostly portraits, and also wrote columns for the Icelandic newspaper. Sonja leaves her brother-inlaw, Grosvenor Murray, husband of her sister, Asta, who died last August; her niece, Margaret Murray Roberts, husband Laurence, and their daughters Daria Roberts Helmer and Sonja Roberts; her nephew, Thomas Olaf Murray, wife Elizabeth, and their daughters Kristina Murray, Patricia Nordwall, and Carolyn Murray. Sonja also leaves many cousins including her special friends Gudmundur Biergisson and Maria Wendel. Sonja will be remembered as a great woman with a big heart, stunningly beautiful, bright, talented, and charismatic. She leaves a legacy that will establish a foundation for needy children in Iceland and the United States. Who would have thought this odyssey possible for a young girl from the tiny country of Iceland? Only Sonja. Margaret Roberts