In Remembrance of Dash Rom, 1946-2022

Dash’s real name was Warren Anthony Romaine, Jr., and he hated it. His nickname Dash came to be when he was asked to sign in at a Murder Mystery dinner. He replied, “There’s no mystery if you know my name,” and he replaced his name with “ – “. When they were ready for him, they called out, “Mr. Dash?” The rest is history. He went by that name ever since.

He was born in Portsmouth, Virginia on January 21, 1946, then moved to Flushing, New York with his parents Warren and Rose, and two sisters, Beth and Cathy. At the age of 16, he moved to High Point, North Carolina to attend High Point College. He pledged Theta Chi fraternity and was still good friends with several of his fraternity brothers until his passing. His nickname in college was “Baby” due to his young age.

After college he moved to Greensboro, North Carolina where he lived for most of his life. He had a very successful career as an agent with The Equitable, and later as a financial advisor with The Guardian and Consolidated Planning. Dash was a CLU, CNFC and attained the distinguished honor of becoming a lifetime member of the Million Dollar Round Table. He was active with the Greensboro Jaycees and the Greensboro Rotary club, of which he was a past president. In the last few years he was very passionate about the TENNO project, with the goal to raise humanity’s consciousness one person, one moment at a time.

Dash embraced life fully. He traveled the world, was always curious about people, different cultures and did his best to get to know people. He sailed, was a SCUBA diver, and enjoyed racketball and bicycling. He was a very competitive backgammon player and held tournaments throughout the years.

In 1998, he found the paradise of Bocas del Toro. He had dreamed about living on a tropical island for much of his life. He built a beautiful home here and threw legendary parties. Dash was blessed with a brilliant and active mind that craved new ideas and different perspectives and loved helping others do the same. After he built his home in Bocas, he divided his time between here and North Carolina, having many friends in both places and family members in his home state, Virginia and Texas. His heart was in Bocas where he could completely relax and be himself. He wished to spend his final days here and that came to pass.

He and his life partner, Marjon, even though they got together late in life, were each other’s best friend. Anyone who ever met Dash knew him to be a gentleman, with great style, a loving and bright light with a joie de vivre who led a “charmed life.” Those were his words always. He was very grateful for his charmed life.

He was one of the coolest people you could ever meet. He cared deeply, loved deeply. He will be missed by his family, his friends and his partner. He had his own style and didn’t give a fig about anyone’s opinion. He painted his toenails blue and wore bright, colorful necklaces.

Dash is survived by his life partner Marjon Mos; his three daughters, Holly Ramirez of Dallas Texas, Dana Romaine Vickers, of Climax, North Carolina, and Heather Romaine, of Wake Forest, North Carolina; his grandchildren, Anna, Nicholas, Cameron, and Adam (Holly), Joel, Joshua and Elizabeth (Dana), and Lila (Heather); his great grandchildren, Zoe, Kamryn, Christian, Aaron, Charity, Genevieve; and many close friends whom Dash embraced as his “family of choice.”

He strived to make the world in which he lived in a better place via thoughts and actions. He donated to many people and organizations in need. In Bocas he had a fondness for the children at Christmas time and donated to the indigenous children’s Christmas parties, the various Spay and Neuter clinics, and Floating Doctors.

He will be missed terribly by the people who knew and loved him.