Sonja Anderson

Willow City

Sonja Wynn Anderson was born November 30th 1962 to Myra and Charlie Anderson in Denver, Colorado. She died at her Willow City home on Saturday, January 26, 2026. She was the second of three girls and in her younger years loved hanging out in Northglenn Colorado with her older sister Michelle. She attended Oak Grove Lutheran High School in Fargo, N.D. and was the wrestling coach for the boys team and made so many life long friends. Sonja loved those years so much, her younger sister Jami, attended the same school and thrived there. After high school she moved back to Colorado and welcomed her first child, a daughter named Roxanne Nicole, in February 1984. When Roxanne was small, Sonja started working for a greenhouse in Parker Colorado and found the love of her life… plants! In February of 1989, on the coldest day of the year, she welcomed her second child, Cole Manley. She knew the world needed a little extra warmth that day. Sonja started working that same year at the Vickers estate, making the world a more beautiful place, one flower at a time. She was an amazing plantscaper, whose gardens were featured in magazines that spanned the world and were front and center each year at the Sprint International. Sonja moved to Willow City, North Dakota in 2000. She worked odd jobs that she enjoyed but her garden at her home, that she and Ryan built together, was her pride and joy. Ryan welded many features for her garden to grow in and on. It was a special place for them together. Sonja had the most beautiful and fruitful garden in all of North Dakota. Sonja is survived by her 4 awesome grandsons, Mathew Charles, Owen David, Hendrix James, and August Apollo, her children Cole Anderson (Jessica) and Roxanne Durkee, sister Michelle Gibbons, nephew Jacob Gibbons, niece Charly Anderson, life partner Ryan Sattler, and numerous cousins, aunts and uncles. Sonja was preceded in death by her maternal and paternal grandparents, her parents Charles and Myra Anderson, and her sister Jami Anderson.

A memorial service and burial will take place this summer. Www.niewoehnerfh.com

Published by The Minot Daily News, January 29, 2026.