Julie Fiorini, owner of ski school, dies at age 85

On the ski slopes, she was "Head Mama" and even had a chairlift named after her. In the office, running what was once the largest, privately owned ski school in the country, she was "The Triple Checker," maintaining careful records with the help of a manual typewriter.

Julie Fiorini, matriarch of the Fiorini Ski School on Snoqualmie Pass, helped thousands of Northwest children learn to ski. The school she founded with her former husband in 1947 has seen second and even third generations from the same family learn the art of carving, traversing and side-slipping on snowy slopes.

Graduates have included local notables such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates, television newswoman Jean Enersen and several members of the Nordstrom clan.

Mrs. Fiorini, who retired in 1990, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease three years ago and this summer was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She died Sunday at a hospice center on Vashon Island. She was 85.

"I loved her so much. Everybody did. She was such a scream, and just so much fun," said Chelsea Gabriel, a longtime friend who was Mrs. Fiorini's caregiver. "She brightened everybody's day. I think it was a goal of hers."

Born Aug. 25, 1921, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Mrs. Fiorini seemed destined for a stage career. She gained some fame as a jazz and Big Band singer in her hometown, said her daughter and ski-school successor, Georgianne Fiorini.

During a performance at a ball for brewery workers when she was 19, her voice captivated Sebastian "Buzz" Fiorini, who would become her husband and business partner.

Married in 1943, the couple soon headed west, living first in Bremerton and then Seattle, where Buzz Fiorini worked in a sporting-goods store and was asked to teach customers' children to ski. The business blossomed and later led to the establishment of Fiorini Sports, a ski and snowboarding shop that has become a University Village landmark since opening in 1962.

The couple divorced in 1987, but remained friends.

Though she loved golf, tennis and traveling with her friends, Mrs. Fiorini delighted in being around children. She missed only a single winter weekend away from the ski school — when she gave birth to her daughter in 1955.

"She was crazy about little kids, and kids loved her," Georgianne Fiorini said. "Up until her last days at the mountain, they were really enamored with her."

In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Fiorini is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Jeff and Sally Fiorini, of Seattle; her brother, Albert Oliver, of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and a granddaughter.

Mrs. Fiorini's family is planning a celebration of her life at 3 p.m. Nov. 5 at Summit West's Timberwolf Pub at the Slide Inn Lodge, overlooking "Julie's Chair," a beginner chair lift at Snoqualmie Pass that was named after her. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to the SKIFORALL Foundation, 1621 114th Ave. S.E., Suite 132, Bellevue WA 98004.

Information in this article, originally published October 18, 2006, was corrected October 20, 2006. A previous version of this story erroneously stated that Mrs. Fiorini died at her Seattle home; she died at a hospice center on Vashon Island. The celebration her family is planning for Nov. 5 will be held at Summit West's Timberwolf Pub at the Slide Inn Lodge overlooking the chair lift named in her honor, not at the Fiorini Ski School.