Mary Glennon Domareki

SKOWHEGAN – Mary Glennon Domareki passed away peacefully on Easter night, April 5, 2026, surrounded by her children. She is dearly missed by her husband of nearly 59 years, Gregory, her large family, and many others who loved her.

Mary was born Mary Kielty Glennon in Manhattan, NYC, on Oct. 2, 1941, the eldest of six children of Mary Kielty Glennon and Matthew Joseph Glennon. She spent her early childhood living on a farm in rural Tewksbury Township, Hunterdon County, NJ, where she attended a country preschool and a one-room schoolhouse.

The family later moved to Westfield, NJ, while continuing to spend summers at the farm. Mary loved her country childhood, enjoyed driving the tractor on the farm, and preferred rolling hills and farm scenery throughout her life.

Mary had a close, loving relationship with both her parents. She treasured her mother’s ready wit and her father’s deep integrity. Naturally patient and nurturing, she adored being the oldest of six and helped care for her younger brothers and sisters.

She attended Holy Trinity High School in Westfield in the same class as her future husband. There, she displayed quiet leadership and was selected by the faculty to attend Girls State. Throughout her schooling, she earned the appreciation, affection, and respect of her peers in a way that would continue throughout her life.

Mary graduated from Trinity College in Washington, D.C., where she majored in History. She was an expert at knowing what – and when – to study, so that she could easily pass her tests after cramming at the last minute, having taken time to play bridge in the smoker with her friends.

After college, Mary worked as a receptionist at National Dairy Products in NYC and taught first grade for three years, two at Saint Teresa’s Catholic School in Summit, NJ, and one at Marin County Country Day School near San Francisco. She was proud to have taught many children to read and enjoyed all her students, especially the naughty ones.

In 1967, Mary married Gregory J. Domareki, an attorney from Mountainside, NJ and a graduate of Seton Hall University and Law School. They spent their first year of marriage in Surrey, England, where Greg studied international law at the London School of Economics and Mary taught in the village school, immersing herself in English literature and history.

They returned to the United States to start a family and would raise their seven children in rural Hunterdon County, NJ, and later in Castine and Skowhegan, Maine. Mary raised her children with unconditional love and considered this her life’s most important work. Each time she was expecting a child, she said she could not wait to see what this child would be like.

After her children were grown, Mary went back to work at the Lawrence Public Library in Fairfield, where she found satisfaction and joy working with her well-loved co-workers and patrons alike.

A history major and a voracious lifelong reader, Mary was a fiercely independent thinker with quiet confidence regarding what she believed. To her, history was never merely facts or dates—it was alive because it was about people. She had an instinctive understanding of human nature and a deep appreciation for the richness of people’s lives, whether they lived centuries ago or were someone she had just met at the grocery store.

She was endlessly interested in people, and she carried their stories with her. She would tell them alongside stories of her own life and from history, moving easily between them, because to her they were all part of the same human story. She shared these stories daily with her children—at the dinner table, in the car, while cooking or folding laundry—so that stories became part of the rhythm of their lives.

That same understanding shaped the way Mary moved through the world. She had a rare ability to see people clearly and make them feel seen. She was deeply fair, honest, and without judgment, valuing authenticity and allowing people to be fully themselves. She loved people as they were, and they felt it. She had a strong sense of humor, which she said is really a sense of perspective, and was always ready to laugh at herself and at the ironies of life.

As the grandchild of Irish immigrants, Mary’s Irish identity was very important to her and she passed on a strong sense of Irish heritage to her children by telling family stories, sharing Irish songs, and watching The Quiet Man with them every St. Patrick’s Day.

Mary deeply loved her husband, Greg. She treasured his intelligent, original, and creative mind, the ways he could always surprise her and make her laugh, and the ways they were so different while both being exceptionally sensitive and intuitive. They shared a love of beauty and an artist’s soul. It was a 60+/- year love affair, and he is devastated to lose his girl but grateful for the children she gave him.

Mary was predeceased by her parents, Mary and Matthew Glennon; her sister Anne; and her oldest son John Gregory Domareki.

She is survived by her husband, Greg; six children and their spouses, and her 16 grandchildren, Mary and Jonathan (Nicholas, Sophie), Sarah (Michael, Rose), Catherine and Ashish (Clementine, Anya), Gregory Jr. and Sarah (Dom, Eve, Liv, Jack), Luke and Maria (Nicole, Andrei, Nini, Leonora), and Bridget and Gabriel (Mira, Zeke). She is also survived by her siblings and their spouses, Kate and Ernie Abbott, Matthew and Lydia Glennon, Christine and Hugh McBride, and Tony and Carol Glennon; and many nieces and nephews.

Services for Mary will be held on Saturday, April 11, 2026, from 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. at the Somerset Valley Remembrance Center, 19 Washburn Lane in Skowhegan, and will include visiting hours and a service at 2 p.m. with an Irish wake and reception to follow.

You may also find the live stream and recording of the services on Mary’s memorial page at https://svremembrancecenter.com/obituaries/mary-domareki where condolences, photos, and special memories may also be shared.

In lieu of flowers,

people who wish to may make a donation to:

the John Domareki Award at Skowhegan

Area High School