Marian Cooke, 63
Marian Cooke, a former resident of Montauk, died unexpectedly on Feb. 1 in Steinhatchee, Fla., in an accident in which she was thrown from her husband’s pickup truck while they were transporting furniture to the second-hand shop she started there after having run the Second Story Consignment Shop in Montauk for many years.
Although she was known on the East End for her eye for antiques and collectibles, she had had an earlier life as a teacher, working with students with disabilities. Her family said that she “began her long and passionate career dedicated to the needs of persons with disabilities, particularly those with Down syndrome,” while still an undergraduate. She was an early adapter, they said, of the philosophy of focusing on people’s abilities rather than their disabilities. She had developed a bond with the disabled younger brother of a high school classmate and remained his friend and mentor until his death some 30 years later.
Marian Cooke was born on Staten Island on Feb. 24, 1954, one of seven children of the former Catherine May and Lawrence Joseph Cooke. She grew up there, but began visiting Montauk as a toddler and began spending summers there when she was 10. She attended Staten Island’s Sacred Heart School during her elementary years and went on to graduate from Notre Dame Academy, a secondary school on Staten Island, in 1972.
Ms. Cooke was an assistant teacher at Staten Island Aid, a nonprofit charitable organization for children with developmental disabilities, and was devoted to her students, her family said. She moved after that to Washington, D.C., where she married her first husband, Rick Tomford, and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from George Washington University. The marriage ended amicably in divorce.
Several years later she moved to Manchester, Conn., and managed several group homes run by SARAH Inc., an organization that offers services and support systems to children and adults with differing abilities.
In 1995 she returned to Staten Island and was hired by Volunteers of America as a client advocate and caseworker. She was sent to Paris in 2000 to an international forum promoting the right to sexual autonomy among adults with Down syndrome.
Some on the East End, her family said, may remember Ms. Cooke as the caseworker who brought clients on day trips by ferry from Connecticut to Montauk, but many more here came to know her as a “purveyor of fine stuff of all varieties, from shabby chic to antiques, from junk jewelry to diamonds and pearls.” Her wares at Second Story Consignment ran the gamut from fur coats to handmade lamps. She found her goods at estate sales, garage sales, auctions, and flea markets. According to a story about her that appeared in The Star in 2006, she always took care to offer a fair price to the seller when she found an underpriced treasure at, say, one of the rummage sales run by the Montauk Community Church. She ran the shop, which overlooked Montauk Harbor, from May until November between 2003 and 2015.
During that period, Ms. Cooke spent winters in the Bahamas with her second husband, Norman Clark, whom she had met in 2003 at the Montauk Yacht Club, when he was there on a fishing trip. They retired to Steinhatchee in 2016, and she took her treasures with her and opened a new shop, the Corner Store.
Her six siblings survive her: Michael G. Cooke of Montauk, Mary Cooke of Washington, D.C., and Montauk, Owen T. Cooke of Chatham, N.J., and Montauk, Jean Cooke-Byrne of Durham, N.C., Lawrence Cooke of Montauk, and Elizabeth Cooke of Niceville, Fla. She is survived by four nephews and two nieces, as well.
In addition to caring for people with disabilities and hunting for second-hand treasures, her other two passions were the music of Barbra Streisand — she played Streisand’s music in her shop, frequently singing along — and an affinity for firefighters. Two of her brothers, her former husband, two cousins, one nephew, and many friends were firefighters, and she shared with them a “can do” attitude, her family said.
The family will hold a memorial service at 11 a.m. on April 28 at the Montauk Community Church. The Rev. Bill Hoffmann will preside. Ms. Cooke was cremated; her family said that her ashes would remain in Montauk. Memorial donations have been suggested for emergency medical services at the Montauk Fire Department, 12 Flamingo Ave., Montauk 11954.