Sunny M. Parry, born Arleen Mae Sontheimer on July 4, 1947, in Philadelphia, PA, had an extraordinary start to life, nearly arriving during a Fourth of July celebration. Her mother’s labor progressed rapidly and the car lost a tire on the trolley tracks as they turned a corner on the way to the hospital. Fortunately, some quick thinking, frantic hitchhiking, and kind citizens passing by got her mother to Hahnemann hospital just in time for her to be born inside a birth room. As exciting as her birth was, her death was equally peaceful on the afternoon of September 15th in hospice care at Rumford Community Home in Rumford, Maine, where she spent the last year of her life in memory care. Her time in the care of Rumford Community Home and the year preceding it at Bolster House in Maine marked a time of peace for her, where she enjoyed painting, visiting with other residents and her guardian Cyndi, and having a room right next to the dining room!
A lifelong lover of music and art, Sunny played clarinet and saxophone in the Edison High School Marching Band in Edison, NJ. Her high school yearbook celebrated her passion for music, stating, “her heart is filled with ‘the Sound of Music’” and urging to “strike up the band!” She later attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she was one of only eight women in the Jazz program among over 600 men, playing first - tenor saxophone, then later flute and alto flute when she developed a hernia from blowing into the saxophone. It was at Berklee where she met her husband of 15 years Gene Roma, also in the Jazz program, and the two were married on May 4, 1968. This union allowed her to adopt the nickname "Sunny," derived from her last name, Sontheimer. They established a home in Cohasset, MA, and welcomed three children: Adam, Noel, and Jeremy, whom she loved deeply.
Sunny faced numerous health challenges throughout her life, including depression, a brain tumor, several strokes, and ultimately, dementia. Despite these many struggles in life, Sunny, modeling her own kind of resilience, was able to start several businesses, own several homes and live independently, and watch her kids grow into kind and compassionate adults. Her kids and their friends remember good times of birthday parties in Cohasset in the backyard eating strawberry shortcake, driving around on the way to or from a gymnastics or basketball practice to seek out fast food listening to some of her eclectic music - Steely Dan, Pink Floyd, Janis Joplin, the Beatles, or Ozzy Osborne, and watching movies from her extensive and equally diverse collection. She loved a good storm and made them incredible adventures. The blizzard of 1978 that crippled the Boston area in particular was one she excitedly prepared for and she cooked food on the wood burning stove and let Adam and Noel, 8 and 5 at the time, take baby Jeremy to the store on a Radio Flyer sled after digging tunnels out of the house.
She loved animals and always had a cat or dog, or both. In no particular order she had Duffy, Pookie, Palestrina, Timmy, Mason Dixon, Reggie Jackson Roma, Kerby Pucket, Fletcher, Yoda, Vanna White, Nicki, Ashley, Harley, Isaac, and Jessie, her beloved beagle who survives her and has found a new family.
Massachusetts was one of many places she lived including North Carolina, Virginia, Maine, New Jersey, Vermont, and Indiana. She followed her parents, and her brother to these locations who provided much needed support and companionship over the years. She shared a love of beagles and the mountains with her brother, Chuck, and the family will honor her wishes of spreading her ashes on Rangely Mountain in Maine in the future.
She possessed a quick wit and incredible sense of humor which she maintained throughout her life and until the very end which her family is grateful for. We are also grateful for the peace she was able to experience in the last few years of her life in assisted living.
She was preceded in death by her beloved parents, Ed and Ella Sontheimer, and two great-grandchildren, Cayden Anthony Costa and Aurora Danielle Costa. She is survived by her brother, Edward C. Sontheimer (Chuck), her children Adam and Sandy Roma, Noel Roma, and Jeremy and Pam Roma, grandchildren Brandon Haines, Alexis Costa, Amanda Roma, Ava Roma, Sarina Peters, Jonah Peters, Vivian Peters, Anthony Roma, and Emily Roma, and great grandchildren Isabelle Haines and Jackson Haines.
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