Sonia Mavis (Stay) Willbanks, 86, of Grandview, MO, passed away Thursday, May 28th, 2026. Family will greet guests during a visitation on Friday, June 5, 2026, from 10-11 am. Burial will take place at Missouri State Veterans Cemetery, Higginsville, MO.

Sonia was born May 29th, 1939, in Bemidji, MN, the eldest of 7 children, to Justin Raymond Stay and Esther Eileen (Nagel) Stay. She grew up in the charming rural Minnesota lifestyle on the family homestead and farm in Beltrami County, MN, just outside of town. Graduating from Bemidji High School in 1957, she pursued a career in accounting with a local business. She was the first of many of her siblings to move to “the last frontier” shortly after Alaska became the 49th state, where she worked for the City of Anchorage for 17 years.

A survivor of the 1964 great Alaska earthquake, she rebuilt her life after the disaster and soon met her husband Leonard of 44 years, marrying in 1970. She was a loving and caring mother who raised her two sons in the beauty of Alaska and took advantage of everything it had to offer. She spent time with her siblings who had followed her there, and frequently traveled home to Bemidji to visit family and attend all-school reunions with her life-long friends. She and her family moved back to the Midwest in the late 1970s to be closer to aging family members and bought a farm in the southern Iowa community of Osceola. She enjoyed returning to farm life, raising livestock, gardening and canning. She involved her children in every aspect, instilling the hard work ethic in her sons that was core to her values.

In the early 1980s as small family farming became less sustainable, she moved again with the family to the Kansas City metropolitan area, finally settling in Grandview in 1985. In Kansas City she took a different direction professionally and entered the world of travel, first working for Charters International in Shawnee, where she learned the trade. She then opened Leawood Cruise and Travel, which she owned for many years, until retirement in 2001. Traveling the World with family and friends she met in the business, she left no stone unturned. Sharing her travels with all whom she knew and would join her, taking cruises and trips whenever she could.

Sonia was a beloved daughter, wife, mother, sister and friend. She was a strong, gracious, gregarious, resilient and empowering woman who always found time to laugh. A hospice volunteer and Gold Star Mother, she led a life of service and instilled that in her children and family. She was the type of person who makes up the very fabric of our nation. She never met a stranger, and her many life-long friends are a testament to who she was. She will be greatly missed, and her legacy will live on forever in future generations.

She is survived by her son, Todd (Michelle) Willbanks of Greenwood, MO; grandchildren Joseph and Alyvia Willbanks of Greenwood, MO; sister Jenine Stay of Tucson, AZ; sister Bonita (David) Lind of Bemidji, MN; brother Justin (Maureen) Stay of Bemidji, MN; sister Rosemary (Randy) Cox of Taylorsville, NC; step-children, Detra Hardy of Concord, NH; Donald Willbanks-Nichols of Hampton, VA; Dennis Willbanks-Nichols of Carrollton, VA; Debbie Mason of Smithfield, VA; David Willbanks-Nichols of Chesapeake, VA; and 9 step-grandchildren and great grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Leonard Charles Willbanks; parents, Justin Raymond Stay and Esther Eileen (Nagel) Stay; son SPC Shawn Allen Stay; sister, Cynthia Daly; and sister, Veronica Smith.