Carole Ann Mackey

Carole Ann Mackey passed from this world on February 8, 2025, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. She was 79.

Carole was born in London, England, to Leonard and Hilda Wright. She graduated high school in England and married an American serviceman, Bill Varga. Her first-born son, Daren, was born on the American base. After Bill’s honorable discharge from the service she and her new family moved to Brooklyn, NY. Bill joined the IBM team and over the years the growing Varga family moved from New York to Florida, and finally Longmont, Colorado. After a breakup with Bill she lived in Boulder, working at Storage Tek. It was here that she began a new career in the medical field. She bought a house in the Allenspark area in 1996 and shortly afterword gave up her job to be a full time care-giver for Gene Mackey’s aging mother. She and Gene were married in 2000.

Her compassion and love of art and nature drove her life. She dabbled in all forms of art, but excelled in painting, often stopping by the road to take a picture of something interesting that she could put on canvass. She loved thrift shopping and would regularly attend auctions and second hand stores across the Front Range, finding items that she would later sell. She held a garage sale at her Boulder house twice a year, catering to the interests of students, paying her house taxes every year from the profits. She had impeccable taste in clothing, especially what would sell at the sales, and would run her hand down a rack of cloths quickly picking out cashmere and other quality clothing. One year she took a trip back to her native England with a suitcase crammed with American jeans and other items to sell, and returned with the case filled with British things to resell here. She collected odd pieces of rusty iron and loved using them for interesting yard-art.

Her passion for art and people was only surpassed by her love of animals, dogs in particular. When she was a pre-teen she took in a stray and hid it in her room for three days before her parents found out. They allowed her to keep the dog and she was never without a dog by her side for the rest of her life.

In Allenspark she was a member of the Hilltop Guild and the Area Club. She loved gardening and hiking in the forest with her troop of dogs, and was a master decorator, turning her Allenspark home into her own work of art.

Carole was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Leonard Wright. Survived by her husband, Gene Mackey of Allenspark; one sister, Wendy Cottee (Jon) of Worthing, England; her sons: Daren Varga (Anita) of La Russel, MO; Gary Varga (Karina) of San Diego, CA; Ross Varga (Carli) of Boulder, CO; a step daughter, Marcia Brake (Michael) of Fort Collins, CO; eight grandchildren, one great-granddaughter, and numerous nieces and nephews. She will be missed by many.

There will be a service at 1 p.m. February 22, 2025, at the Allenspark Community Church, 16 Washington st., Allenspark, Colorado, with a reception to follow. Memorial donations in her name can be sent to the Allenspark Fire Department at AFPD P.O. Box 153, Allenspark, CO 80510-0153. or the Alzheimer’s Association at www.act.alz.org . Please visit www.allnuttestespark.com to leave a message for the family.