Sonia Gaviola, formerly of Montauk and Sagaponack, had a passion for floral design and spending time in the garden. Among several businesses she started was Simply Flowers by Sonia, which she operated from 2016 to 2019.
Ms. Gaviola, who was also a real estate broker with Prudential Douglas Elliman for many years, died of complications of cancer on Jan. 23 at the Arthur B. Hodges Center, a nursing facility in South Charleston, W.Va., where she had been living for two years. Ms. Gaviola was 64 and had been dealing with the aftereffects of treatment for a long time.
She started several businesses in Montauk with Joe Gaviola, whom she married in 1985. The couple owned Gaviola’s Montauk Market, Chris-Nic Properties, and Finest Kind Wine and Liquor, and, with Lynden Restrepo, started the Atlantic East Realty company.
Ms. Gaviola was born in Dunbar, W.Va., on July 28, 1958, to John Armstrong and the former Faith Boggess. She grew up in Dunbar, graduated from high school there in 1976, and went on to attend Morris Harvey College in nearby Charleston.
Among the positions she held was executive assistant to West Virginia Gov. Arch Moore from 1980 to 1983.
Friends and family wrote that they will remember her as “an ambitious, outgoing woman with an infectious laugh,” who was “happiest collecting shells on the beach in Jupiter, Fla., during many happy vacations with her children.”
She and Mr. Gaviola divorced in 2008. He survives, as do two daughters, Christina Forgione of Dunbar and Nicole Kokenos of Milford, Conn. Ms. Gaviola also leaves an infant granddaughter, Luna Kokenos, and a brother, Joel Armstrong of Dunbar.
Services were held on Feb. 1 at the Keller Funeral Home in Dunbar.
Ms. Gaviola was an animal lover who owned many horses over the years. Her family has suggested memorial donations to the Kanawha-Charleston Humane Association at 1248 Greenbrier Street in Charleston, W.Va. 25311.
