Nancy C. Perna

August 10, 1937 - February 11, 2011

Nancy Caroline Perna, 73, Sarasota, formerly of Sarasota died February 11, 2011.

Memorial Services will be held Sunday at 1:00PM in Palms-Robarts Funeral Home Chapel.

At 9 am on Friday, February 11, 2011, Nancy Caroline Perna passed peacefully after a three month struggle with cancer. At her bedside were her two daughters.

Nancy will be remembered by the many customers of Sarasota Electronics, the electronics shop founded by her and her husband, Floyd Perna. Together they built up the store from a hole-in-the-wall grab bag of mostly obsolete parts into the primary supply of electronics for industry and local government in Sarasota and Manatee counties.

A can-do person, Nancy learned and then mastered any skills she needed to accomplish all the tasks that life put in front of her. In the Sixties she re-upholstered the Volkswagon bus our family used as a camper, in the Seventies she milked cows, plucked chickens, and put up vegetables on the farm and in the Eighties Nancy became an expert in retail accounting. But her real expertise was laughter. She brightened every gathering with jokes and stories and is remembered for her brilliant smile.

Nancy will be sorely missed by her husband, Floyd Perna, her sisters, Diana Beland and Pamela Redman, her brothers, Stephen Wooden and Jack Dye, her daughters, Lorelei Stepp and Sandra Abraham, her three step-children, Todd Perna, David Perna, and Wendy Perna, nine grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren, and by all the people that have known her though the years including the members of Aerie #2756, Fraternal Order of Eagles where Nancy was a member for over 20 years. In the past couple days, the phrase most often said about her was that “she was always there for us”. Indeed her laughter and love will be missed by all.

Arrangements under the direction of Palms - Robarts Funeral Home & Memorial Park, Sarasota, FL.