704 Mourns the Loss of a Great Person, a Truly Gifted Archer and a Friend…

704 Outdoors have done business with S&S Archery for as long as we can remember. Sonya & Sie have helped us set up some of the teams first bows. Sie has mounted some of our trophies and both sisters worked with us on bow reviews for our website. If the team ever needed anything that had to do with any of our archery equipment we headed to China Grove.

When we heard the news friday night we couldn’t grasp the idea of S&S catching fire, then the horrifying news that followed… someone didn’t make it out. Some sat in disbelief and others questioned if it really happened. We made calls to a couple friends and they confirmed the news. S&S Graham Archery had indeed had a terrible accident. There was an explosion due to chemicals being used on some taxidermy work and only four of the 5 in the building escaped. When I was told that Sonya was the one that didn’t make it out, there were no words spoken for what felt like hours. Trying to be strong and holding back the emotion that wanted to poor out, we made calls to the other team members to pass the news along. Still the news had not set in. As my wife and I sat there is silence I pulled up the news bulletin on Salisbury Post’s website and there were the pictures of the firefighters working on S&S Graham Archery’s building. At that moment the emotions finally took their toll.

We will miss Sonya and remember the great memories we’ve had at S&S. I could call up there anytime and say “Hey, it’s John” and get an unsure response like “Alright” but I would follow with “You know the guy with the big ‘ol holes in his ears, you know… the pig man” and she would just laugh and knew exactly who I was. She would always get a kick out of that. We’ll remember all those great afternoons we would go up to S&S to pick up a few arrows or broadheads yet end up staying for hours just hanging out with the girls, talking and telling stories.

Sonya was one of the sweetest women we ever met. We will miss her dearly. A great person, a truly gifted archer and a friend…