Carole Jean Cooke

Carole Jean Schneider Cooke was born July 16th, 1934 at Rose Hospital in Denver, Colorado to Johann Frederick Schneider and Virginia Katherine McCormick. Both were Colorado natives: her mother’s Irish family raised 2 generations in Denver and her father was born in Creede to German settlers. She entered this world with wonder: a naturally creative, independent-thinking, and adventurous person. She spent her childhood ice skating, picking crab apples, fashion modeling, and social-butterflying with the neighborhood families at 6th Ave & Ivy Lane. Carole enjoyed summers at her family “Dude Ranch” in Gunnison; riding horses, fishing with her hands, and shooting at prairie dogs with her younger sister, best friend, and partner in crime, Mary Lou.

Carole spent her primary school years in the parochial system and continued her secondary schooling at St. Mary's High School where her creative and unabashed spirit sparked some controversy. Her exit from St. Mary’s began and ended with a drawing of a woman in a leotard that her art teacher insisted was nude. She would proudly retell the story with a laugh, letting us know that she was swiftly kicked out for her refusal to comply with “dressing” the woman who she insisted was already dressed. She transferred to Denver East High School and thrived in a more liberal environment, graduating in 1952.

Carole honed her passion for the creative at the University of Colorado in Boulder where she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and met her first husband Ronald Lee Cooke. They fell in love during the summer of 1955, dating, dancing and bantering into the coolness of the autumn air. They married at St. John’s Catholic Church in Denver. Ron and Carole both completed their undergraduate degrees and supported each other through Ron’s attendance at the University of Denver’s School of Law. They welcomed their first son, Frederick Glenn Cooke (Fred) the next summer. He was followed 3 years later by a second son, Randolph Brian Cooke (Randy), and shortly thereafter by their daughter, Virginia Marie Cooke Garite (Ginger).

Carole shared her passions for art, science, and extraterrestrials with her children. She wielded her own kiln, pastels, an impressive garage workbench for DIY projects and abundant arts and crafts. She was often found with hammer in hand fixing something, inspiring laughter, and coordinating artistic pursuits, whether at the kitchen table or through teaching art classes in the local community. She painted (walls, houses, or canvases), threw clay, and sculpted. She encouraged creativity in her children: helped construct paper mache Valentine’s boxes, made huge messes, and scared off imagined childhood monsters with double-decker peanut butter sandwiches.

Carole and Ron divorced in 1977, spending the next ten years enjoying life as an interior decorator, then later, a manufacturer's representative for lighting and home accessory products. She sold the suburban family house and moved to the 18th floor at the Park Lane High-Rise Condominiums where she enjoyed great views and strolls around the adjacent Washington Park with her fabulous “Red Hat” lady friends.

After kicking up her heels for ten years in local discos and gatherings like “Who’s Who” in Denver, she moved to Vail where she enjoyed skiing, socializing with friends, and her job running construction projects for her eldest son, Fred. Returning to Denver in the 80’s to care for her aging mother, Carole picked up her Real Estate hat as an agent with Coldwell Banker and, through her social connections, found love again. She married Blaine Rutenbeck in 1988. She and Blaine had grand adventures kayaking, camping, and traveling through Mexico where they started an import business bringing international fashion and home accessories back to the States. Carole, with her interior design, fashion sense, and modeling background, very much enjoyed selecting the merchandise and composing outfits to feature in self-choreographed, self-directed fashion shows. She and Blaine later divorced, and she embraced being single once again.

Always a natural leader, Carole was an active Chi Omega, led a southeast Denver Boy Scout Troop, and was president of both the Denver Lawyer's Wives' Association & the Hamilton Junior High School PTA. Later in life, she moved to Mexico, Canada, and then to the Western Slope to help her eldest, Fred with his business and children. She found a love for small-town living in both Glenwood Springs and Silt, Colorado, where she ultimately lived for 21 years.

In Silt, Carole quickly made friends, rolled up her sleeves, and became the President of the Chamber of Commerce. She could often be seen cultivating growth in her community and their garden, walking her dogs with her son Randy, or passing time in her red recliner - clipping recipes and saving interesting articles to share. She enjoyed reading National Geographic, contemplating the conditions of humanity, the wonders of the world, and dreaming of travel to the places she still wanted to explore. In her lifetime, she traveled through China, Canada, and Mexico, as well as many countries in Europe and Africa. Her only disappointment was that she couldn’t cross every inhabitable continent off her list with a trip to Australia.

She would bring back gifts, stories, and photos for her grandchildren Alexis Cooke, Kelvin Cooke, and Astrid Hecht. Later in life, Carole was further blessed when an ancestry website connected her with a bonus granddaughter, Nina McDaniel whom she embraced and loved, and who carries many of Carole’s traits, especially her fashion sense and love of travel.

Carole always loved laughing, dancing, and cavorting with her many friends. She loved her shelter dogs and supported local animal rescues. Carole spent her last years in Grand Junction, Colorado with daughter Ginger (husband Tom Garite) and son Randy where she continued to dazzle the world sporting her “leopard print”. Never shy and always charismatic, Carole’s journey through life collected many beloved friends, all of whom returned her affection.

Carole's love of life and stories will live on through her surviving three children, four grandchildren, sister (Mary Lou Stammler), niece (Lilli Stammler-Almon), a many wonderful friends and loving caregivers - a very special thank you to those who cared for her in her final years. Photos and your stories can be shared on the mortuary webpage devoted to her life: https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/grand-junction-co/carole-cooke-12239560.

A celebration of life will be held for Carole in Grand Junction on March 1st, 2025. Another celebration for friends and family in Denver will be scheduled later this Spring. Please contact her daughter Ginger directly if you’d like to attend, [email protected]. Donations in her memory can be made to The Roice-Hurst Humane Society, https://rhhumanesociety.org/ in Grand Junction in lieu of flowers.