Toni Robinson Frahm

Toni was born in Buffalo, New York, on July 31, 1947, the youngest child of John Stanley Robinson, who was born in Ireland, and Jaye Valery Robinson, who was born in Sicily. She was named for her mother's brother, Tony Valery, a saxophonist who played with Tommy Dorsey.

Her first years were spent in Tonawanda, New York, surrounded by her mother's big family. Weekends meant the drive-in movies in pajamas with a big bag of buttered popcorn, and Sundays meant playing with her cousin Rob. When she was ten years old, the family moved to Nashua, New Hampshire, to a house on Berkley Street where she had a canopy bed and a window seat that looked out over the backyard. Money was extremely limited in those years, she later wrote, but she never realized it until she had moved out of the house.

At seventeen, right after graduation, Toni moved to Beacon Hill in Boston. She attended the John Robert Powers Finishing and Modeling School, modeled at Jordan Marsh, and waited tables at the Elliot Lounge, where she was not quite old enough to be working. When her parents walked in unannounced one evening, the owner graciously agreed to say she was the hostess. Her father thanked him on the way out and said he hoped the man wouldn't lose his liquor license for having an underage employee. She loved Boston.

From there she went on to United Airlines stewardess school in Chicago and took to the skies. She then became the youngest Director of Tour Services at American Internation Tour Services, living at the Hotel Excelsior in Rome while she led tours. It was the travel she had always wanted. However far she went as a young woman, she always managed to get home for Christmas, which is why "I'll Be Home for Christmas" was her favorite carol.

On their first date, Barry Hirsch Frahm brought her a white gardenia, and she wore it in her hair. They were married in Greensboro, North Carolina, on August 20, 1978, and their son, Jason, was born the following year. The gardenia remained her favorite flower.

In Greensboro, Toni became the first woman admitted to the Gate City Kiwanis Club, an honor she counted among her proudest.

She also made Greensboro a livelier place. Toni opened and ran Talk of the Town Catering and Event Planning, catering events ranging from the ACC Tournament to concerts for Dianna Ross and other recognizable names. She gave the same energy to causes she cared about. With her friend Dee Vanstory she created The Hair Ball, a gala that raised money for the SPCA that was truly the talk of the town.

Toni loved the color pink, steak so well-done that a chef could cry, Angel perfume, Italian food, the Amalfi Coast, a Grand Marnier soufflé, her wedding song "You Are So Beautiful" by Kenny Rankin, her hot glue gun, and entertaining. She had no patience for idleness. "If you are bored," she liked to say, "you are probably boring!"

Asked late in life what she had hoped for as a girl, she wrote that she wanted to travel and her own love story: a husband, children, and an ivy-covered cottage. Her answer on whether she got it: "All that I dreamed for and more." She touched the lives of countless people and always made it a point to make people feel loved and comfortable wherever she went.

Toni was preceded in death by her husband, Barry; her parents; and her brothers, John S. Robinson and Terry William Robinson.

She is survived by her son, Jason Frahm, and his wife, Stacy Frahm; her stepsons, Eric Frahm and his wife, Rebeccah, and their daughters, Lorelei and Melody, and Aaron Frahm and his wife, Susan, and their daughter, Victoria; and her sisters-in-law, Betty Anne Robinson and Linda Robinson, as well has her little Maltese, Princess Pia Frahm.

The family will receive friends and loved ones from 6:00 until 8 p.m., Tuesday, November 17, at Hanes Lineberry Funeral Home, 515 N. Elm St., Greensboro, NC 27401. A graveside service and burial will take place at 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, November 18, at Greensboro Hebrew Cemetery, on Vanstory St, in Greensboro. A celebration of Toni's life will follow from noon until 2 p.m. at Giovanni's Italian Restaurant in Greensboro.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the SPCA or to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Online condolences may be made at www.haneslineberryfhnorthelm.com