Theresa A. Sandberg's Obituary
Theresa Sandberg-Arnston Esq., a 77 years old, residing at 402 Old Mill Pond Road, Palm Harbor, and Florida died on December 22, 2016. A memorial will be held at her residence at 11 AM, Friday, December 30th. Theresa was born August 14, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York the daughter of Joseph and Theresa Sicignano. Both her parents were attorneys. Theresa attended PS 180, New Utrecht High School, and Packer Collegiate Institute. She graduated St. John’s University in 1960 with a Baccalaureate in Pharmacy. She was licensed as a pharmacist in New York and later in Florida. After working as a hospital pharmacist, for several years, she returned to St. John’s School of Law and received her JD in 1967. She became a member of the New York, and later the Florida Bar. She became the attorney for the New York Pharmaceutical Society where she met Al Sandberg. She married in 1969. She and Al owed and operated a retail pharmacy in Rochester New York. Theresa helped raise five stepchildren. In 1979, she and her husband left the Snow Belt for the Sunbelt settling in a townhouse in Palm Harbor. Her first marriage ended in 1986, She met and married her second husband, Harry Arnston, in 1988. Harry was a published author of nine books of fiction. With Harry’s encouragement, she began her third career as a novelist with five books to her name. Harry was the love of Theresa’s life but sadly she lost him to lung cancer in 1998. In the years that followed, Theresa divided her time between pharmacy, a part time legal practice, and publishing another novel. Her most successful novels were courtroom dramas featuring a character close to home, a petite, beautiful, brilliant and intrepid Italian-American attorney Karen Marori who had a colorful family background.
Theresa loved foreign travel starting in her childhood continuing all through her life. In spite of a wide dispersion, she remained close to her family. She was a natural extrovert. She was spontaneous and a great wit. She made friends wherever she went. She maintained multiple close and enduring friendships over the years. She was intellectually curious, an avid reader, a lover of science, history, and the arts. She enjoyed films and theater and concerts. She was a pianist, could sign in tune and in harmony and was a great dancer. She especially loved music of all kinds, classical, opera, jazz, rock and world. She was an incurable romantic and a passionate woman. She loved fashion and was an impeccable dresser. She had great taste; her town house was a jewel box. She was spiritual but not so much that she’d didn’t love her 65 Mustang Convertible and her Mercedes 450 SL. Most important of all, she was brave and resilient. She overcame multiple handicaps, hurts and disappointment, including severe scoliosis, Scoliosis may have curved her spine and stunted her growth at puberty, but she was able to stand tall. She achieved a successful and fulfilling life, in both work and love. She made a lasting impression on all who knew her. She will be dearly missed.
She is survived by her brother, Joseph Sicignano MD, of Woodland Hills, California, a psychiatrist, her stepchildren Judith Sumishlawski, Jayna Walker, Gary, David, and Michael Sandberg, and step-grandchildren Katherine Surmishlawski, Rachael and Jessica Walker, and her beloved cat, Nina. (In honor of Dracula’s first pretty victim in England)
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