The family settled in the Ben Shemen Youth Village, when Malka was employed as the housemother of the institution, and Yaakov served as a yardman and carpentry teacher.

Although their relationship continued after graduating, mainly through correspondence, during World War II the two separated, with Shimon remaining on the kibbutz, and Sonia enlisting to the British Army.

Peres said that one day when the head nurse called her a "damn native," she slapped her in the face, and was subsequently expelled from the hospital, and was sent to a heavy vehicle driving course at the Mina camp near the pyramids.

In one case, Peres adopted the children of one of the widows, upon her death, and even let them live for a period of time in the prime minister's official resident.

For example, she attended the official reception at the Ben-Gurion Airport to Prime Minister of Denmark Poul Schlüter in September 1985 and accompanied a tour of US Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush and his wife Barbara in Israel in July 1986.

[6] However, during the two years she served as the prime minister's wife, she continued to refuse to be interviewed, and as far as is known, even refrained from any involvement in political issues her husband engaged in as part of his job.

At her request, she was buried in the cemetery of the Ben Shemen Youth Village and not in the place designated for her, next to her husband, in the Helkat Gedolei HaUma on Mount Herzl.