Elizabeth Summers “Betty” Carey, 92, of Germantown, who held a variety of positions at Germantown Friends School for more than six decades, died of congestive heart failure Nov. 12 at Wesley Enhanced Living at Stapely.
Mrs. Carey started working at GFS in 1945 as a third grade teacher. After her marriage in 1948 she continued on as a “permanent substitute” in the lower grades and as an office assistant, archivist, volunteer horticulturist and chaperone on field trips. After retiring in 2011, she continued to volunteer through the 2014 school year.
Born in Needham, Mass., she attended grade school in Needham and graduated from Columbia High School in Maplewood, N.J., and Wellesley College.
Mrs. Cary joined the Religious Society of Friends as a young adult and met her future husband, Stephen Grellet Cary, at Germantown Friends Meeting. The couple lived in Philadelphia and spent summers in North Chatham, Mass., where Mrs. Cary ran the sailing school at the Chatham Yacht Club for many years and was commodore in 1984 and 1985.
In 1977, when Mr. Cary was named acting president of Haverford College, the couple moved to Haverford. Mr. Cary died in 2002, and Mrs. Cary returned to Germantown in 2011.
She is survived by daughters Anne. C. Sampson and Dorothy; a son Charles R. II; two sisters; and seven grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 19, at Germantown Friends Meeting, 47 W. Coulter St., Philadelphia, PA 19144. Memorial donations may be made to the meeting at the above address. – WF
