Mary Stein Dominick-Coomer was a world traveler, an enthusiastic outdoorswoman, a gracious host and a steel trap of Aspen knowledge with a sharp wit to boot. Her colorful resume included stints as a dancer, medical assistant, cattle driver and "rodeo princess," as well as a fitness instructor, unauthorized hiking guide, and beloved ski area ambassador — all recounted in a self-published memoir alongside her family history and personal challenges. And she was a steadfast supporter of local cultural and environmental organizations, ranging from the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet to Wilderness Workshop.
Her niece and memoir ghostwriter Nancy Shohet West described her as “one of the most interesting people” she knew. And her son, Buck Dominick, considered her “a great historian and storyteller and lover of life.”
But her foremost legacy may be the way she cared for the people she loved, and sought to share her passions with those around her. She died following a brief illness on Aug, 22, at the age of 88, surrounded by her family in Denver.
“She just always lived life to the fullest,” Buck Dominick said. “And I think that's how she would want to be remembered — as someone who was always enthusiastic and outgoing and wanting to not only do for herself, but do for others, and try to bring her love of Aspen and the outdoors to other people.”
Her gusto was almost “infectious,” according to her grandson (and Buck’s son) Chris Dominick, and it extended to visitors just as much as close friends and family.
“The number of times we came up, and she had invited some random Australian couple that she had met on the ski slopes while being an ambassador — I just took it for granted,” Chris said. “I never really … realized how special (it was) that she was so excited about opening up her home and her life to strangers, just because those connections meant so much to her.”
She also took great pride in her family’s history and contributions, Chris noted — and she sought to document them alongside her own story in her memoir, written as told to Shohet West. (Mary was an enterprising promoter of the book, too, encouraging even her cardiac surgeon to purchase a copy.)
“She really loved her mom and her dad, who both lived in Aspen for a big part of their lives … and that legacy meant a whole lot to her,” Chris recalled.
Her father, Henry Stein, was a McClain Flats rancher, innovative tinkerer and open space conservationist; her mother, Marjorie, co-founded the volunteer corps at Aspen Valley Hospital, ran the PTA and was a staunch advocate for local arts and culture organizations like the Aspen Music Festival and School. Both were inducted into the Aspen Hall of Fame in 1989; Henry Stein is also the namesake of a park, bridge and trail located near their ranch and the Aspen Airport Business Center.
Mary was born in 1936 and raised with two younger sisters in the Chicago suburbs, visiting the Roaring Fork Valley through family vacations “out west.” Such trips also introduced her to the young heartthrobs of Aspen: In her memoir, she admits a “tremendous crush” on Tony Deane, whose parents ran T-Lazy-7 Ranch, and an on-again, off-again relationship with future Olympic ski racer Max Marolt.
Her parents purchased Red Butte Ranch in McClain Flats in 1946 and moved there full-time when Mary was a teenager, dispatching their oldest daughter to the Ethel Walker all-girls boarding school on the East Coast. She later graduated from Middlebury College, and spent parts of her adult life in Aspen, New England, New York City, and the Pacific Northwest, then Washington, D.C. and Denver. She married and divorced twice, bearing two sons, Buck and Drew, with her first husband and a youngest son, DeWitt, with her second husband.
Her world travels (among them France, New Zealand, the Himalayas and several countries in Africa) were interspersed with frequent return visits with family to the Roaring Fork Valley. She made the permanent move back to Aspen in 1994, following a divorce from her second husband David Dominick.
It was here that she forged a legacy as a fountain of local know-how — an “Encyclopedia Aspentannica” of history and gossip alike, as Chris Dominick wrote in the introduction to her memoir. Aspen was also where she met her third husband, Sven Coomer, a ski boot innovator and the founder of the ZipFit lining system; Chris now runs the company with a base in Carbondale.
She was “resolute” in her pursuit of her passions, Shohet West said, from the search for romantic connection to grand mountain adventures.
“I just so admire anybody who could really commit their life to the things that mattered most to them,” Shohet West said.
And while Dominick-Coomer could regale a guest with tales from the past, or to dish on local happenings, she was also content to shoot the breeze or share quiet time in the same space.
“We would just sit together and hang out and talk and just be together,” Chris said. “And she was a very easy person to spend time with in that way, you know.”
It’s the thing Chris will miss most about his grandmother; Buck said he feels much the same, as he would often talk on the phone with his mother five or six times per week, chatting about the weather and comings and goings of the day.
“She just really loved people,” Chris said. “That can't be understated.”
There’s a reason, after all, for the title of her memoir, “Eighty Years of Life, Resilience and Love.”
In the epilogue, Dominick-Coomer took stock of her milestones, personal connections and appreciation for the outdoors before determining one clear throughline: “Inevitably, however, my story reveals the greatest theme in my life has been love. … I have held dearly to the people who matter most to me, and in doing so have been richly rewarded with their love radiated back to me.”
Mary Stein Dominick-Coomer is survived by her husband, her sons and daughters-in-law, seven grandchildren, one great-grandchild, a sister and brother-in-law and many other relatives and friends. Her memoir is available on Amazon.
