Rockville Centre resident dies of cancer at age 78

Nancy W. Loonam

Former Rockville Centre resident Nancy W. Loonam, 78, of Demorest, Ga. died on Jan. 10 after a two-year battle with cancer.

Born in Rockville Centre, Nancy spent her early years in Aruba. Her father was manager of the Standard Oil Refinery on Aruba. Back in the states, she attended Oceanside High School, then went on to Marjorie Webster Junior College in Washington, D.C.

In 1956 Nancy married Peter S. Loonam of Freeport. The couple first settled in Rockville Centre and then moved to Massapequa where their daughter Joanne Barbara was born. When Peter, an advertising executive, was transferred to Tokyo in 1971, Nancy studied Sumia painting and Joanne attended the American School in Japan and struggled with Japanese. They returned from Japan three years later and within a year Peter retired and he and Nancy took on a new challenge, opening The Peter S. Loonam art gallery on Main Street in Bridgehampton. It provided a place where young artists could show their work and people could get good archival framing. Nancy was known to wear her fur coat to do the mat and frame work in the studio during the bitter cold east-Island winters.

After 10 years the couple moved to Cambridge, Md. on the eastern shore, and Peter expanded his paintings of waterfowl while Nancy cared for her mother, Mildred. In 1998 they moved to Demorest, Ga. to be close to Joanne and her family who lived in nearby Dacula. Nancy loved the beach and was often seen on her float off St. George, Fla. or the white sandy beaches of Aruba. Peter said that Nancy missed Jones Beach.

In addition to her husband and daughter, Loonam is survived by her son-in-law George R. Platt and grandchildren, Sean-Patrick Loonam Platt, Steven Peters and Kevin Peters — all of Dacula, Ga.

Loonam has been cremated and a memorial service for her will be held on Jan. 28 at 11 a.m. at Hamilton Mill Memorial Chapel & Gardens in Buford, Ga. The Rev. Zack Martin will officiate. The family will receive friends following the service at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations in memory of Nancy Loonam be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital at www.stjude.org or to Guiding Eyes For The Blind, P.O. Box 709, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598.