Sunny Hennessey Jaaxxx

April 11, 2016 at approximately 11:45 pm Sunny Hennessey Jaaxxx the love of my life passed with me by her side.  She had valiantly fought over 3 weeks against a disease that would eventually take her life.  My soul mate, my wife, my life partner, my ying/yang, my reason for everything and anything died.

I met this incredible woman back in September 2002 upon moving to Greenbelt Maryland.  Sunny at the time was known as Sue Madison.  She was living with her then partner of 23 years Kris White.  The moment we met, we knew.  Sunny spoke often about our 1st meeting and we both agreed it was love at first site.  She joked; it was like when “Frosty the Snow man came back to life in the flower house….swish…Happy Birthday!!”  We became fast friends, by the summer of 2005 we were living together; and by December 15, 2005 on the steps of a Catholic Church in Harpers’ Ferry WV we took our unofficial wedding vows.  The moment as magical as when we met; the Christmas lights turned on as we started our vows, as we spoke, Christmas music began to play, then the church bells rang, and as we stood in amazement, as two trains on the tracks below, passed blowing they horns!

We loved moving to WV, a chance to start over with a new life.  We found the house via the internet; Sunny looked at the view and looked at me.  Nothing more had to be said.  We made the offer on the house in less than an hour.  Sunny loved the house, the view, the mountain.  The house became our beacon and our dream house.  We often told people when they would ask, if we would move, Sunny would laugh and reply “From the door to the morgue”!  We found our dream house, and nothing would drive us from our home a year around vacation.   We loved every moment, the wildlife and the view, oh the view!  It is and will always be our home.

With a new home and life she wanted a new name.  Sunny never cared for her given name Susan Anne Hennessey and always wished to change it.  Over her life she had a number of different nick names:  Sue, Blackie, and Jax.  However it was not till her mother death in 2007 we found her original adoption papers from St Anne’s and a clue!  There on the side column she found written in pencil “Sunny”, not just once but written several times within her adoption paperwork.  Upon moving to West Virginia in 2008, she quit using Sue as her nick name, and became Sunny.   While other gay couples went to California and other states to marry, Sunny wanted to be married in the state of West Virginia, her now home state.  Upon the Supreme Court’s ruling, we went down to the court house to get Sunny’s name officially changed.  Sunny knew she didn’t want her ex-husband name Madison for us, so after numerous ideas she settled on a formal nick name “Jax”.  But…., it just didn’t look right for a last name.   It didn’t take her long to figure it out.  Sunny had an uncanny knack for spelling and grammar, a tweak here and a tweak there and bam…she beamed with pride on her accomplishment.  She wanted a name that dared to be different and unconventional; she told me I didn’t have to take the name.  Well, I took it with as much pride and honor as she did.

We married officially by law, August 25, 2015.  We went to court to official change Sunny’s name 1st.  Sunny loved the fact the proceeding would take place at the same court house that found the militant abolitionist John Brown guilty of treason in 1859.  The judge at Charles Town Court house “Loved” the name and especially the spelling; he signed her official new name:  Sunny Hennessey Jaaxxx.  We then promptly gather up the rest of the paperwork, found our young African American female minister, walked out on to the steps of the Charles Town Court House and officially married becoming Sunny and Kathryn Jaaxxx.  History was made that day, as we were the first gay couple to get married at the historic site!

Sunny loved all animals, especially her beloved kittens; Chase, Ari, Seamy, Miss Kia Lee, and Sierra. She also kept near to her heart and spoke often of her deceased kittens Jia, Pinky, Shona and all her greyhounds; especially Scott, Shamie, Pinky, Jimmy, to name a just a few may they all resting in peace.   She loved reptiles “Ricky” a huge iguana, “Sunshine” a 13+ foot Albano Burmese Python she had raised for the last 20 years, her Jungle Python “Manny”, her 8 Ball Pythons; her Arizona King Snake “Tuscany” and “Isabel” her 13 year Tortoises to name a few of her reptiles, well over 100+ reptiles over the years.  She didn’t just limit her love to inside animal; she also loved her outdoor friends.  For 8 years we have documented together our deer generation after generation that would visit our backyard.   She fed and watched over stray cats, she named the black vultures that came to visit and sit on our front and back decks and sat with Isabel on the back deck “Stanley”, “Stella”, and “Baby Huey”.  She loved to watch the raccoons, possums, chipmunks, foxes, and now and then a black bear pass by for a visit.  We located and removed unwanted timber rattlers and copperheads saving them from being destroy by humans.  I will always remember watching Sunny race outdoors when a bird or her beloved hummingbirds would hit the glass windows or doors.  She would pick up their small bodies hold them gently in her warm hands, and most of the time there little bodies would recover and fly away as she released them.  She talked all the time about a huge white owl that crushed into our front window.  She ran out to the front pouch and watch in amazement as the owl collected him/herself and winked at her before flying way.  I remember her excitement on finding a baby black bear playing in our backyard, or the Luna moth that came attached by the lights of the reptile room.  She was always saddened by the fact I wasn’t there to share the experience, work took me away.  She did have a gift and talk to the animals.  She was a Doctor Doolittle.

Sunny had many interests she loved lifting weights and working out, she collected marbles, and we collected greyhound items, canes, and other antiques.  EBay was our major site of fun and excitement.  Sunny loved 24 karat gold jewelry which I would try to give as much as I could.  She loved to design jewelry.   She was a chef; she would always say “I’m cooking for you” as she would prepare a fest.  As a gardener she loved summer, planting peppers and tomato plants, tending to them and sunning on the back deck.

Sunny’s hair during the winter months it would be salt and pepper.  Ah, but in the summer, oh the summer it would turn blond!  She had wonderful hair; barbers love to cut her hair.  She wore either with a duck tail or a high and tight with a flat on top, or flips the hair up and brushed to the side.  Simply beautiful!

She would never ever go out, if she wasn’t showered hair in order and had her eyes put on.  Yes, those eyes everyone loved her eyes, colorful and caring eyes.  We couldn’t go anywhere without someone committing her on her eyes.  She once flashed those eyes at David Bowie during a concert, he responded by crossing the stage and singing directly to her.  Sunny always had to be dressed to the nines.  I on the other hand would throw on anything and go shopping.  Ying/yang was our symbol.

Sunny had many friends, but two extremely close special friends.  Lynn Ganey Selzer her childhood friend for 49 years; and Brian Kristal friend/business partner for over 20+ years.  Sunny would recount their many adventures, trials and tribulation over the years with great joy.  Sunny would also spend countless hours talking and bantering with her friends over the phone.  Sunny loved to banter.  No one could out banter Sunny, although they are those who would try, like Brian and Lynn.   I could always tell who Sunny was on the phone with when I would call from work.  Sunny and Brain would talk for anywhere between 1-4 hours; Sunny and Lynn between 6-8 hours.   Although there were times life got in the way, their friendship continued till her death and now today continues with me.

Sunny was my ying and I her yang.  Or was it, Sunny was my yang and I her ying.  It didn’t matter, we were one.  We finished each other sentences; we knew what to do without saying a word.  We danced in the moon light, we dance in the eves, and we dance at every change we got.  We called the house “Dancing in the Moonlight”.  We would sit on our front deck and count satellites passing over us in the night sky, or I would sing and play my guitar for her “I Owe You” and “Can I Have This Dance” while prepared another fest and cooker our dinner.  We loved being with each other, as the years passed our work schedules differed, but we always took every advantage to be together.  We would sit in our sunroom and watch our beloved wildlife around us and our sunsets while listening to Frank Sinatra and friends sing Ave Maria, Sonny, My Funny Valentine, and You Belong to Me, and countless other love songs.

Sunny loved music as I did.  We would listen to a wide range of styles.  She introduced me to Rap, and I introduced her to another side of Country music, without the twang.   We listen to sultry classic music from the 30’s to modern day.  Music is constantly playing in our home.  Our song “I’ll Be Seeing You” is being played on the radio as I write this paragraph!

Sunny grew up in Martha Woods, Maryland adopted by Jim and Dorothy Hennessey, and grow up with her adopted brother Jimmy Hennessey all three are deceased.  She married Patrick Madison (deceased) in 1978 and divorce in 1982.  She lived with her partner Kris White from 1982 till 2005.

Sunny graduated from Largo Senior High School in June 1976

She loved working with the Greyhound Pets of America, Inc. Baltimore, Maryland Chapter as a member of Board of Director (September 1997-2000); and then as the Local placement Representative (January 1992-2002) which she developed.

Her occupations were:

1982-1985 Data Preparation at Westat, Inc Rockville, Maryland

1985-1986 Head Veterinarian Assistant at the Piney Branch Animal Hospital, Silver Springs, Maryland

1982-1987 Sales Associate at Eddie Bauer and Talbot’s General Mills and White Flint Mall, North Bethesda, Maryland

1987-1989 Clinical Studies Assistant II at the Center for Medical and Epidemiological Studies Research Triangle Institute Washington DC

1989-1991 Supervisor of Editing and Coding Support for the Data Services, Center for Medical and Epidemiological Studies Research Triangle Institute Washington DC

1992-1995 Data Preparation Manager at Westat, Inc. Rockville, Maryland

1995-1997 Sales Associate at World of Science Rockville, Maryland

1997- 2006 Business Partner/Herpetoculturist Reptile Wonders

2005- 2007 Personal Trainer at Star Fitness Gold’s Gym

2007- 2010 Consultant for Ravenswood Interior Painting Co-Owner

2010-2016 Herpetoculturist of Red Skies Reptile Rescues Co-Owner

Sunny lived a wonderful life.  She loved many, and many have loved her.   I cannot describe the incredible love I shared with her, I only know her love made me a better person, stronger and more beautiful than I ever imaged I could be.  “I LOVED this WOMAN” was her favorite Kay’s jewelry TV ad; well I LOVED you Sunny/Pumpkin/Baby and will for evermore.  As I struggle in my days ahead I know she is watching over me and all her loved ones.   As time go on, I know we will meet again in another time.   We will carry her with us everyday till we too pass on.  Smile when you think of her, she would have wanted it that way!