Stormy Heart Brooks Romaniello, 85, of Quarry Village Road, Conn. passed peacefully in her home on Wednesday, April 5, 2023. She was the wife of Dr. Frederick (Fred) Romaniello. A daughter of the late T. Ralph and Louise (Hodges) Brooks, Stormy was born on April 29, 1937 at Gales Neck in Mathews, Va. Stormy attended Lafayette & Lee Jackson Grammar Schools and Mathews High School, where she played softball and was a cheerleader. Stormy also found time to waitress at the Hodges House and worked as a cost clerk at a local financial institution. After high school, she was recruited by the CIA and moved to Washington, D.C., where she met Fred who was then a dental student at Georgetown University.
Stormy and Fred soon married at the home of his Aunt Kathryn and Uncle Henry Orsini in Abilene, Texas, while Fred was in the Air Force. While in Texas, Stormy became the head of family services at Webb Air Force Base. They moved to Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1962 where she initially worked as a swimming instructor at the YMCA and the local Boys Club. She later worked as the office manager for Fred’s dental practice and served as Auxiliary President of the Dental Societies of Greater Waterbury and of the State of Connecticut.
Along with raising her family, she was on the board at Saint Mary’s Hospital Auxiliary and volunteered at Chase Schools’ PTA, as well as the Holy Cross Mother’s Club. She will forever be remembered for her amazing baking and her famous pound cake that was loved by so many, for so many years; and we will never forget the bags and bags of oranges she would cut and have ready for all of her kids’ teammates after swim meets. She was an avid fan of her beloved Boston Red Sox.
She is survived by her husband and their three sons, Frederick R. Romaniello Jr. (Lauran), James R. Romaniello (Denise), Joseph T. Romaniello (Denise); daughter, Terry Ellen Watson (Dean), and seven grandchildren, Frederick III, Nicholas, Christopher (CJ), Brian, Emma, Haley, and Casey. She was predeceased by her parents; her sister, Janet Henrietta; brothers, Leslie Herbert and Terry; her grandparents, Captain Tollie and Lucy Brooks, and Captain Jessie and Henrietta Hodges; her grandson, Matthew James Romaniello; her aunt, Birdie Hudgins, and her stepfather, Thomas Leigh.
Calling hours will be held Saturday, May 6, 2023, from 10 a.m.-noon at Munson Lovetere Funeral Home, 2 School St., Woodbury, Conn. A memorial service will begin at noon.
To leave an online condolence please visit www.munsonloveterefuneralhome.com.