Anne Mahnken Domenie, 90, most recently of Essex, CT, died peacefully at Essex Meadows Health Center on June 12, 2020. Anne was born in New York, NY on November 5, 1929. She grew up in Scarsdale, NY, and graduated from Emma Willard School in Troy, NY (1948) and from Pine Manor Junior College (1950). Anne traveled for 2 years after college before marrying Johan Domenie on August 15, 1953.
Shortly after the birth of her first child, the family moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where her three other children were born. Anne loved to play tennis, often receiving trophies in competition. On a dare, she began raising chickens and had a thriving business, supplying friends with better poultry than that available in the open-air markets. She was an excellent seamstress, starting a trend by sewing her children’s school uniforms and, when the family returned to Scarsdale in 1964, she taught sewing for Stretch and Sew. She went back to school and worked for a period of time as a paralegal for a local law firm. Anne also had a keen sense for numbers and finance, so she volunteered her time preparing tax returns with the AARP as well as doing the bookkeeping for the Episcopal Church in Kinderhook, NY, where she was a member.
Anne enjoyed the outdoors where she shared skiing and water sports with her children. As life went on she happily passed that love of outdoor pursuits to her grandchildren. She was exposed to riding in her middle years by a dear friend, and soon started riding with hunt clubs. She became an active member and volunteer of the Old Chatham Hunt Club where she rode her beloved “Gatsby” through the New York countryside. Her time in Chatham was also spent in her garden, where she enjoyed “sharing” her blueberries with the wild-life. One could even find her 85 feet in the air in a bucket truck (age 82) when she needed to show the arborist which limb to trim. And when a March ice storm caused her to be without power for ten days, she would not accept a generator or other help, but instead hiked out to the creek so she could have water in her house. She embraced her love for travel into her “golden” years, including a solo excursion to Africa. Her spunk and character remained with her right to the end.
Anne was predeceased by her parents Lavinia Minis Henry and Harold Mahnken, her brother Charles Henry Mahnken, and a daughter, Deborah Anne Domenie. She is survived by her 3 children and their families: Holly Adams of Princeton Jct, NJ, Douglas and Patrice Domenie of Lyme, CT, Mary and Rob Lloyd of Charlotte, NC; 7 grandchildren and their respective spouses, Christopher Adams, Matthew Adams, Charles (and Trisha) Domenie, Lucy (and Dominic) Solari, Henry Domenie (and fiancé Sarah Albanese), Emilie Lloyd, Andrew Lloyd, and 2 great-grandsons, Leonardo and Luca Solari.
The family would like to acknowledge and thank the staff at Essex Meadows for the exceptional, kind and compassionate care they provided her over the last three years.
A final farewell and burial will be private. Memorial donations can be made to the Alzheimer’s Association or the ASPCA. Arrangements are being made by the Swan Funeral Home in Old Saybrook, CT.
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