Obituaries

Sister Alice Marie Carey

Sister Alice Marie Carey
Sister Alice Marie Carey

Late in the evening of June 30, 2015, Sister Alice Marie Carey went peacefully home to our loving God. Sister was 75 years old and had dedicated 55 years to Dominican religious life. 

The daughter of James Edward and Alice Carey, Charlotte was born Sept. 20, 1939, in Greenport. When she was a very young child her birth father died. Her mother later married Edward Santry Carey, whom Charlotte came to know and love dearly as her own father. The family lived within the parish of St. John the Evangelist R.C. Church in Riverhead, where she met the Dominican Sisters of Amityville. She entered the congregation Sept. 6, 1959, receiving the habit and her religious name, Sister Alice Marie, on Aug. 5, 1960. For most of her religious life her ministry was in elementary education.

Sister Alice taught in the parish schools of St. Martin of Tours in Amityville; Fourteen Holy Martyrs in Brooklyn; St. Ignatius in Hicksville; Little Flower in Montauk; St. Joseph in Kings Park; Corpus Christi in Woodside; Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Lindenhurst; and St. Hugh of Lincoln in Huntington Station. From 1992 to 2003 Alice taught in Trinity Regional School in East Northport. In her teaching, Alice demonstrated a love of the children, fine teaching skills, patience and a quick and delightful sense of humor. From 2003 to 2004 she ministered at Our Lady of Mercy Academy in Syosset with her friend of many years, Sister Rosemary Hickey.

In 2006 Alice answered the call of the congregation to run the Secretariat in Amityville, the office which involves ordering materials and responds to the duplicating needs of the congregation. Sister Alice regarded this position as one of service and was unfailingly kind and polite, often in the midst of several duplicating jobs with the same deadline. She always appreciated the help she received from the many generous retired Sisters, who faithfully assisted her whenever needed.

Alice had a great love of nature, especially flowers and plants. Each spring she would plant flowers around her convents when possible. The Motherhouse grounds offered her a perfect place to plant many flowers, which added to the beauty of the landscape. Some still flowered this spring. Often, when Sisters were going on retreat or vacation they would leave their plants in Alice’s care. When they returned it was not unusual for the Sisters to find the plants looking even better than when they left.

The Sisters who have lived with Sister Alice throughout her religious life have expressed that she was a gift to community life. Alice was honest and expressed her opinion fearlessly while still charitable in her manner. She was available to help in any way she could, prayerful, compassionate and interested in the well-being of each Sister, and used her quick, wry wit kindly, able to tease another without hurting feelings. Sisters from the local community with whom she lived at Christ the King Convent in Commack describe her as a wonderful community member and a real unifier of disparate opinions. When Alice received her terminal diagnosis just a few months ago, she accepted whatever medical science could offer but was completely honest about the most likely outcome and began to prepare for God’s call to her eternal home. She will be missed by the Sisters at Christ the King, her many friends in her convent and in the congregation.

Sister Alice will be missed also by her loving family: Bill and Pat Carey; Eileen and Ken Demchak; Susan Carey and her life’s companion, Donna Canzoneri; and her many loving nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her brother, Ed, and sister Barbara Maiorana.

A wake took place July 6 at St. Albert’s Chapel at Queen of the Rosary Motherhouse in Amityville. Following a prayer service in the chapel, a Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated July 7. Interment took place at the Sisters of Saint Dominic Cemetery in Amityville.

This is a paid notice.