September 6, 1962 �" July 17, 2015
Adrianne "AJ" Warmick passed away in peaceful sleep Friday afternoon, July 17, at her home in Buda, Texas. She was surrounded by her housemates and friends, RJ Keffer and Linda Keffer. Ms. Warmick had multiple myeloma bone cancer, which went to stage 4 and she had to be on dialysis religiously near the end.
AJ was born in Washington, D.C. and graduated from Woodson High in 1980. She went to Pennsylvania State University in the fall of 1980.
She was stationed in Okinawa prefecture of Japan from 1986 to 1990 as a petty officer and a U.S. Navy radioman.
She was the bouncer at Castro dance club and bar the Phoenix, which was one of her favorite places to hang out as well. Great friends and good times there.
She worked at AT&T in the early 1990s. She worked at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, in the IT department, 2002, and in the IRS division in Oakland. She moved to Texas and was the IT specialist from 2011 to July 2015.
She loved her bingo and her Thai food. She was a regular player at the Coming Home Hospice Bingo and was famous for her O-69 yell that went on for minutes.
She became a member of the Soka Gakkai International Buddhists in the late 1980s. She had learned to be very accepting of everything that came her way from this amazing sect.
She was a great family person, having to go to the Midwest to take care of her mom's estate. She also had loving family members, including her uncle, Leonard Forbes; father, Walter Warmick, and late mother, Lorraine L. Forbes; and brother, Michael Warmick; cousins Candice Crooks, Brian Crooks, Terrence Crooks, Fan Williams-Crooks, Keitra Crooks, Lourdes Crooks, Sandra Crooks, Roger Crooks, Terri Underwood Crooks, Trina Crooks, and Usula Crooks; and nephew Paul Joseph Fletcher.
Her friends in San Francisco are many and include Don "Ho" Tse, the late Omar Mosley, Robert Larrabee (the unholy trio), Sandy "Mama" Reinhardt, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the gang at Daddy's (now 440), the Phoenix (now closed), Coming Home Hospice Bingo, and Black Sheets Adult Entertainment.
She also was a foster parent for cats. She had up to six at one time but made sure they were cared for before she adopted them out. She could not see any of them hurt.
She loved to go to estate sales, garage sales, yard sales, discount stores, and Goodwill stores. She has amassed a large collection of vintage jewelry that is still being discovered in her boxes in Texas. She also has a great collection of vintage clothing.
She was fond of going to the department stores the day after the big holidays and buying the gift sets, breaking them up, and saving them as individual gifts the following holiday.
She was a loving woman who cared for everyone she met. She was famous for being on the phone with you for hours while she was in the tub or just chilling after a long day. I, her dear friend Rick Le Blanc, was on the other end for many of those calls.
One thing that stands out for me is her laugh, which was infectious. My last call with her was with tears but a laugh at the end. That was a real treat.
There will be three bingo games in her honor soon: one in San Francisco, one at the Russian River, and one in San Jose.
She was cremated and friends will be scattering her ashes on Saturday, September 12 on San Francisco Bay, followed by lunch in the Castro. Afterwards, we will meet at the Edge, 4149 18th Street, San Francisco, at around 1 p.m., where everyone is invited for a hosted shot in her honor.