Chances are that if you went to hear classical music in the last 50 years in Santa Barbara, you would have either run into John A. Sonquist or heard him play. His enthusiasm for creating venues for people to share chamber music was insatiable. He could arrange music for any configuration of instruments and voice. His astonishing collection of music and his unique arrangements (30 boxes!) were donated to the Santa Barbara Music Society to form the core of a lending library for young musicians.
John was born in Elmhurst, Illinois, to J. Albert and Clare Sonquist. He started playing piano at age 4 and was a local child virtuoso. His father died when John was a child, and his mother went to work as a riveter, leaving John responsible for taking care of his little sister. His uncle, Dave Sonquist, a visionary in the co-op movement and a musician, took John under his wing, encouraging him to study piano and prepare for college. Uncle Dave was the director of Circle Pines Center, a recreational co-op in rural Michigan. The summer he was 16, John went to Circle Pines, and his life changed forever when he met Hanne Deutsch — who would become his wife of nearly 60 years.
Both John and Hanne went to the University of Chicago, studying the Great Books curriculum. Living in married student housing, they put themselves through school calling square dances. John was a conscientious objector. His alternative service was from July 1953 to May 1955, serving as a recreation coordinator at Manteno State Hospital. John went on to earn his PhD from University of Chicago, becoming a pioneer in computer applications in social science in the 1950s.