Calvin M. (Marty) Rome of Sussex, N.J., passed away at Garnet Health Medical Center in Middletown, N.Y., on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020, with his wife, Pam, by his side. He was 69.
He was a survivor of stage 3 esophageal cancer in 2007, the treatment for which led to his leukemia diagnosis in 2019. Indirectly, he was a victim of COVID-19; if not for the pandemic, he would have received a stem cell transplant in April, which likely would have allowed him to remain with us for several more years.
Born in Sussex, he was a lifelong resident of Sussex County and was the owner/operator of Ike’s Car Wash and Gas on Route 23 in Wantage, N.J., having first started working for his father when the business opened in 1969. He was a member of the 1969 class of High Point Regional High School and graduated from Husson College in Bangor, Maine, in 1973.
Marty treasured the time he spent on hunting trips to Canada and out west with his father, and he was a car lover, especially classic and muscle cars. He could identify the make, model, and year of virtually any car from the 1950s to the 1980s just by catching a glimpse of a tail light. He and his wife, Pam, enjoyed going to Cape May every September to attend the Wildwood Fall Boardwalk Classic Car Show, and they considered their trip to the annual Mecum auto auction in Harrisburg to be the highlight of their year.
He is survived by his wife, Pamela (Clouse) Rome; stepmother, Florence Rome; brother, Dwight Rome, and Dwight’s mother, Isabelle Rome, all of Wantage; as well as his aunt, Mae Green, of Winchester, Va.; brother- and sister-in-law, Dale and Susan Clouse, of Dallas, Pa.; and his nephew, Drew Clouse, of Pittsburgh, Pa.
Marty was predeceased by his father, Calvin Rome (Ike).
A memorial service will be held at Ferguson Funeral Home, 27 Third St., Sussex, N.J., on a date to be determined.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Wantage Township First Aid Squad, P.O. Box 721, Wantage, NJ 07461; or to the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey (bit.ly/SupportRUCancer).