Roma Lynn Firmin

Roma Lynn Firmin was born January 21, 1955, to James M. Firmin, DC, and Dorothy (Calvert) Firmin in Kansas City, MO. She passed away peacefully at age 70 on January 28, 2025 at St. Joseph’s Hospital. Surrounded by her family. 

 Roma attended grade school in Raytown, MO, and in 1967, after the untimely death of her grandmother Alberta, her father moved the family to his mother’s family homestead just north of Weston, Missouri. Roma graduated from West Platte R-II in 1973. She made many close friends and, overall, enjoyed her years and memories of her friends and time in Weston.

 After graduating high school, she attended Penn Valley Community College, studying Physical Therapy, which led to a generally successful medical career for many years. Roma always felt great compassion for her patients.

Roma was blessed with a natural inclination to become a stage performer. She had a memory for a large catalog of music and a magnificent vocal range that evoked breadth and depth of emotion, earning her the respect of musicians and nightclub owners for many years to come. She could sing Gospel, Jazz, Blues, and Opera—Roma was truly blue-eyed soul. She had the big, beautiful blue eyes, the soul, and the voice to prove it. She could sing like an angel and roar with some bedroom blues, leaving the crowd hot and wanting more.

 She didn’t just sing—she was a showman, belting out her performances with all her might. She had many proud moments, and her family was so very proud of her magnificence. She started her singing career shortly after high school. I remember Everette DeVan, "Slick," giving her a chance early on, as well as the legendary Scamps and other Kansas City icons of the day.

In 1984, she was nominated for the Kansas City-based International Jazz Hall of Fame at Fanny’s Restaurant. She left Kansas City in the late 1980s to pursue both her medical and singing career in San Francisco, California. She lived there for around 13 years and was a well-known performer in the Bay Area. I remember visiting her there and how she gave me the best birthday any sister could ever ask for at Lou’s on Pier 47.

 She also enjoyed being an aunt to my daughters when she visited while they were young. Roma appears on the Christmas CD produced by several Kansas City artists, Heatin’ Up the Holidays, a joint effort to benefit Hope House. She once told me she sang at a birthday party for Norman Lear, and he personally paid her a compliment for her evening’s performance—I thought that was cool. She also befriended many other music industry notables and jammed with some of them, like Narada Michael Walden and Tommy Castro, while living in the Bay Area.

There are many wonderful memories that Roma shared with me about her days in the music industry. Like most, Roma found love a few times over the course of her life; however, she was single at her passing.

 Roma was, by nature, a generous and loving person. She was poetic, sharp-witted, idealistic, and entrepreneurial, among many of her positive attributes. She traveled abroad but always returned to her roots in Kansas City. She said she had done most things she wanted to do in her life except for being on a singing competition on television.

Her parents preceded her in death. She leaves behind her sister, Dora Firmin of Webb City, MO, and her half-sisters and their families: Sandra Firmin-Williams-Willis of St. Joseph, MO, and Myra Sue Gabbert-Williams of Waterford, CA. Her Missouri family includes nieces and nephews: Shelly (Darrin) Shuman-Springs, St. Joseph, MO; Brandon (Amanda) Willis, St. Joseph, MO; Tia (Derek) Best, Kansas City, MO; Tara (Tim) Dice, Kansas City, MO; Bonita Jones (Eric Montes), Austin, TX. Great-nieces and nephews: Tyler Tietz, Connor Springs, Matthew Starr, Niobe Best, Ethan Best, Emma Dice, Abigail Dice, Bennett Dice, and Lola Dice. She is also survived by Aunt Lora Davis and cousins Karen Wade of Joplin, MO, and Kasi Ferrier of Portland, OR.

Family would like to pay respect to the staff and at Rehab of Kansas City South for their care of Roma.

Please leave comments or memories for the family. There will not be any public services at this time.