Armand A. Romeo

A funeral mass will be held at Christ the King Church in Old Lyme on December 14th at 11:00 am, followed by a reception at the church’s dining room.

Armand Anthony Romeo was born in New Britain, Connecticut to Armando and Maria Romeo on November 11, 1934. He was by far the youngest of four brothers, his oldest brother Fred being 25 years older than him, his brother Sam being 24 years older, and his brother Vincent 10 years older.

Their family moved from New Britain to Hawks Nest Beach in Old Lyme when Armand was in 7th grade. The family supported themselves by building houses and cottages in the summer and renting or selling them in the following years. All in all, Armand helped to build 10 houses in the Hawk’s Nest Beach and Sound View area.

While in grade school and high school, Armand was a self-declared “disinterested student”, more interested in hunting, fishing, and playing baseball, basketball, and soccer. The stories of his high school antics from Old Lyme in the 1950s were always entertaining.

Armand told the story of going to rifle club on Thursday after school at what is now Old Lyme Center School. He would take his rifle on the school bus (after the driver checked to make sure it wasn’t loaded), practice shooting in a shooting gallery in the basement of the Center School, then hitchhike back to Hawk’s Nest Beach, with a rifle.

Armand also told of playing against Moodus in high school basketball. Their gym was on the second floor of a barn. Players and fans had to climb a ladder to access the gym, and the players had to play around a wood stove at center court, which kept the place warm in the winter.

Armand was an outstanding catcher in baseball. He used to talk about hitting home runs to “Garvin’s Store” while playing ball at the baseball field at Hawk’s Nest Beach. He went to a three day try out for a New York Yankee’s farm team and played very well. As the scout was discussing a farm team assignment, Armand told him he was 17 years old. The scout closed the contract folder and said, “See you in a year, kid”.

When Armand moved to Old Lyme in seventh grade he met the love of his life, Barbara Mather. The two of them were inseparable from the first moment they met until Barbara‘s death in 2007. They were married in 1952 and lived in Old Lyme for over 55 years.

Armand was fond of telling the story of how Armand and Barbara’s high school graduating class was the class that chose Old Lyme high school’s mascot to be the “Wildcats”. After learning that Old Saybrook had recently chosen the Rams as their mascot, Old Lyme’s senior class decided to also choose a mascot. Armand suggested the wildcats, because a fellow student, Jimmie Dean, had gotten a brand-new ragtop convertible, and when he left food in the car one night, a fisher cat had clawed its way through the ragtop to get to the food. Thus, the Old Lyme Wildcats were born.

After getting married at age 18, Armand and Barbara both worked to support each other while Armand continued his schooling. He graduated from the Ward School of Electronics in 1955. He got an Associate’s Degree from Mitchell College (1957), a Bachelor’s Degree in electrical engineering from the University of Rhode Island (1960), and finally an Master’s Degree in science from the University of Connecticut (1962).

Armand worked as an engineer in acoustic sonar and signal processing for Electric Boat, Raytheon, Hughes Aircraft, and Analysis and Technology (A&T). At EB, he worked in sound and vibration, helping to keep submarines quiet. Later in his career, he was considered the expert on the AN/SQS-53B sonar system, used on navy frigates. Some of the highlights from his work career were that he surfaced in a submarine at the north pole and went outside to touch the north pole marker. He also went almost 4 miles deep in the ocean, off the coast of Japan (near the Mariana Trench), while testing the sonar systems on the “DSV Sea Cliff”, an Alvin class deep submergence vehicle. Finally, he swam with and helped train dolphins in Key West Florida, as he was designing a harness that communicated using ‘click’ commands when they surfaced.

In 1965, Armand and Barbara moved away from Hawk’s Nest Beach across town to Buttonball Rd, across the street from the newly established Black Hall Golf Course. Armand became a founding member of the golf course (member #9), and golf there became a huge part of his life. He was a member of the “Wing Ding” golfing group and was known as THE Yankee fan at the club. After an important Yankees win, he would place a Yankees towel on the hood of his car. Annoyed Red Sox fans playing golf would leave a “gift” on the towel, though decorum dictates the nature of the gifts will remain anonymous.

Family meant everything to Pa and Ba (as they were affectionately known by the family). While raising their children (and eventually their grandchildren), many times over the years they could be seen helping with homework, coaching teams, babysitting, or at high school or college games cheering on their kids, no matter the time, the date, or the distance. Armand had a reputation as a strict parent and earned the nickname “the Hammer” (based on “Arm and Hammer”) and, eventually, “Hambo”. But his strict but loving and supportive parenting style kept his kids out of the “trouble I used to get into”.

Armand’s pride and joy was his 12-acre property on Buttonball Rd, bordering the Black Hall River. He built a barn, a guest house, an addition to his house, a dock, and a gazebo on the property. In his later years, he would spend summer weekends playing golf, cutting grass, then sitting in the Gazebo with Barbara listening to the Yankee game (sometimes with curses echoing down the river).

While working at the sound lab in New London, Armand was for many years on a golf team at Shennecossett Golf Course, as well as a bowling team, both called the Paisanos due to the various players’ Italian descent. The competition and comradery of those teams kept him entertained for many years.

In Armand’s later years, after Barbara had passed away, he began having regular Friday dinners with other friends who had lost their wives. The “Broken Wings” club became a very close support group, and Armand looked forward to their dinner each week.

Armand was predeceased by his three brothers (Fred, Sam, and Vincent), his wife Barbara, and his eldest son Christopher Romeo.

Armand leaves behind his other three children, Alex (Patrice) Romeo, Susan (Robert) Malestein, and Leslie Romeo, as well as his daughter-in-law Deborah Romeo. He also leaves behind his grandchildren Anthony, Samantha, Lauren, Sophia, Carly, Quinn, Maia and Rowan.

As Armand was fond of saying, “Goodbye and good luck...”