WESTFIELD – Ramona Flynn, 77, passed away peacefully on October 19th, 2024, with her family at her side. She left this world as she lived – planning her next adventure. Ramona was born on February 3rd, 1947, in Greenfield, MA, to John Toczydlowski and Helen Adamsky. She graduated from Frontier Regional High School and went on to earn two master’s degrees at Westfield State College before teaching at Powder Mill School in Southwick for 37 years.
From childhood on a Sunderland farm, Ramona refused to let anything hold her back. In an era when diabetes was barely understood she kept her insulin cool in a stream at summer camp and smuggled her syringes through a dorm window in college. Even ill in the hospital, she was planning her next trip. You could always find Ramona by following the sound of laughter. She brought joy wherever she went—her classroom, a doctor’s waiting room, even a DMV clerk would be smiling in minutes. She had the hospital staff laughing so much her family worried they’d send her home too soon. That persistence and joy defined her teaching career. Her basement overflowed with teaching supplies, her students took “unofficial” field trips, and of course her classroom echoed with constant laughter. Years later former students returned to catch up with their favorite teacher. To Ramona, the world was an endless gallery of wonders. She delighted in the arts of all kinds: from highbrow theater to terrible sci-fi, cute stickers to fine art. She loved museums and movies, pistachios and coffee, straw hats and sunscreen, naps and gardening, and asking, ‘Read any good books lately?’ She never stopped learning. There was always another trip, another experience to share with family and friends. She might struggle to find the glasses on top of her head, but she never failed to find the beauty everywhere around her. She’d stop her car to admire a garden or stop a stranger to ask about their hat. Her fierce love for family and friends let them share in her vision of a wondrous world.
Ramona is survived by her husband of 46 years, Hugh; her children Jonathan and Darcy of Westfield, MA; her sister Marie Blake of Sunderland, MA; sisters-in-law Rosemary and Kathleen Flynn; Kate’s husband Nick Marshall; nephew Evan Marshall; niece Norah Colby; Norah’s husband Alex Colby; and their son Owen Colby.
Services for Ramona will be private, held at the convenience of the family.
