Ann Nicolle Rome

Bloomfield, Connecticut Ann Nicolle Rome (89), born in Hartford in 1932 and a Bloomfield resident most of her life, passed away peacefully on November 18, 2021 at Seabury retirement community in Bloomfield, surrounded by her four children, on the Wintonbury Avenue site of the former A.C. Petersen farmstead, just a few hundred yards from where, amidst cornfields and woodlands, Ann had first raised them. Ann herself had grown up in the heart of Bloomfield Center, on Jerome Avenue where the Wintonbury Mall is now located. She attended Center School and Bloomfield High School, graduating in 1950. She graduated from The University of Connecticut in 1954, along with her high school sweetheart and future husband of 34 years, Lewis Rome, with a bachelor's degree in Child Development from the School of Education. Ann became a home economics teacher, student teaching at Windsor High School and then in the public schools of Bourne, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, before settling back in Bloomfield as a mother and homemaker. A few years later she realized a schoolgirl dream shared with fellow UConn graduate Lucy (Woodford) Wirsul to start a pre-school with cows and chickens in an outbuilding on the grounds of the Woodford Farm, with affordable prices – $2.50 per child per week, or $3.00 per family. Many who attended still speak warmly of those days. Ann's mother, Frances (Werth) Nicolle, was Irish and German and also trained as an educator. Clues to Ann's lifelong taste for learning and creative activities for children are to be found in her mom's leanings. Ann's father's origins were both French and English. Frank Nicolle's father's family was from the Channel Island of Guernsey (which Ann finally had the opportunity to visit in the 1980's, staying with her cousin and lifelong pen-pal Jeanne Nicolle Bonnefin). On his mother's side, an ancestor, Thomas White, is reputed to have been the first English Pilgrim child born in Massachusetts, aboard the Mayflower, just before it made landfall at wintry Plymouth Bay in 1620. During the Great Depression, Frank moved to Hartford after a job on the Maine Turnpike dried up, when he heard there was work in Connecticut. After some years, he founded his own construction company in Bloomfield Center. As a high-schooler, Ann was outgoing and a leader in student government, and, with the likes of her friend Catherine (D'Addeo) Williams, she enjoyed many extracurricular activities. She especially liked to tell of her creation, with Lois (Pinney) Poirot, of a singing group called "The Hubba Hubba Girls" at Bloomfield High. Ann was also a founder of the Bloomfield Junior Fish & Game Club. As an adult, Ann loved school and community events, concerts, plays, sports, and the like – so long as children were involved. There were her sons' baseball or basketball games almost every night, followed by quick stops at Wurdig's, and a leadership role in the launch of Bloomfield Midget Football. Later came hundreds more of her grandchildren's ballgames, dance performances, and concerts. Children were always, always Ann's focus. Later, Ann came up with a novel way to assist new parents, especially New Americans, seeking to live within their means by offering them pre-loved baby clothes, collected, cleaned, and repaired by Ann – always entirely free-of-charge. There was no institutional support for this initiative, it spontaneously took shape as Ann's labor of love. Beginning from her home, Ann eventually rented a shop on Farmington Avenue, West Hartford, to accommodate the new mothers who flocked to her, and she happily accepted the moniker of "The Baby Lady." Ann's contributions to the day-to-day lives and to the moral education of her ten grandchildren will be an evergreen legacy. With self-effacing grace, she lived a life of service to others, public and private. Ann's outgoing personality made her a natural political campaigner at the town, state, and even national levels, but where she really flourished was as a mother hen. When called upon, often on short notice, Ann would host parties for family and friends in the hundreds at the family home. Ann leaves her four children: Thomas Rome of The Bronx, NY; Richard Rome (Joanne Kaplan Rome) of Potomac, MD; Deborah Rome Szabo (Ronald Szabo) of West Hartford, CT; and David Rome (Stacy Silk Rome) of Farmington, CT. She leaves one great-granddaughter, Gwendolyn, and nine grandchildren: Daniel Szabo, Mo Seck (Kate Skidmore), Rachel Rome (Carl Schmidt), Carrie Szabo Miller (Scott Miller), Karim Rome, Jack Rome, Sam Rome, Tiz Rome, and Isabelle Rome. A beloved tenth grandchild – Samantha Rome – predeceased her. Ann was also predeceased by her parents and her sisters, Patricia and Joan, and brother Tom. She was also a loving aunt to her Rome and Nicolle nieces and nephews too numerous to list. Ann was a resident of Seabury for the past 14 years, forming so many special bonds and reconnecting with long-time Bloomfield friends like Al Attardo, and benefitting from the wonderful care and friendships with the Seabury-at-Home team. The family is grateful to all at Seabury and UConn Health for their kindness and compassion. May Ann's memory be a blessing, may God receive her well in Heaven, and restore her to peace in her soul. Calling hours at Molloy Funeral Home, West Hartford, from 4 to 7 p.m. on Sunday, November 21. Graveside service at Mount St. Benedict Cemetery, Bloomfield, at 1 p.m. on Monday, November 22. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Ann's name may be made either to: The Rick Rome School in Kigezi, Uganda, via https://partnersforkigeziorphans.org/, or "Partners for Kigezi Orphans Home, Inc.," 1201 F Street, NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20004; or "Samantha Rome Nutmeg Scholarship Fund," c/o UConn Foundation, 2390 Alumni Drive, Unit 3206, Storrs, CT 06329, or via https://www.foundation.uconn.edu/.