Stephen S. Carey ’71 died on June 27, 2024, in Brunswick, Maine.
(The following was provided by Maine Sunday Telegram in July 7, 2024:)
Stephen S. Carey ’71
Stephen Carey, 75, of Brunswick, passed suddenly from this life to adventures unknown on June 27, 2024.
Steve graduated from Worcester Academy and Bowdoin College of Brunswick. While in college, he met Kathleen “Kathy” Olson and they were engaged at Giant’s Stairs in Harpswell. He served in the U.S. Army, and later returned to Brunswick where he taught at Jordan Acres School and then worked in technology at the Brunswick School Department. He was loved by many, and for years his family met former students who shared stories about Steve and his positive impact on their lives.
He lived for his family. For fifty-three years, he was a devoted husband to Kathy. He and Kathy loved to read, travel, garden, and help others – their life together was an endless conversation. He and Kathy enjoyed volunteering for the Tedford Shelter and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
He was proud of his children, Ben Carey of Houston, Texas, and Margaret Stone and her husband, Keith Stone, of Freeport. The true stars of the show, though, were his two beautiful grandchildren, Nola Stone, 10, and Samuel Stone, 8. “Pops” loved to make the kids laugh with his fart machine and silly antics. In his final day, he woke early on a beautiful summer day to make the kids oatmeal sprinkled with a surprise from the chocolate chip fairy, and to help them use the telescope to look for birds on Bunganuc Rock in Maquoit Bay.
Steve was proud of his mother, Mariane (van Valkenburg) Carey (d. 2021), and his siblings. He would cackle while telling stories about his childhood adventures with his four surviving siblings, Pamela Lentz and her husband, Robert, of Potomac Falls, VA, Jennifer Carey-Robinson and her husband, Gary, of Leicester, MA, Jonathan Carey and his wife, Patricia, of Auburn, MA, and Mark Carey and his wife, Kate, of Lady Lake, FL. He also is survived by his favorite aunt, Denise Lalim of Fishers, IN.
Steve was an adored uncle of many nieces and nephews, including Heather Corbett and her husband, Todd Bamford, who lived nearby in Brunswick for many years.
Steve was unassuming but gregarious; frugal yet generous. He tried (with only partial success) to teach his values to his children: Yankee pragmatism, liberal politics, and energy efficiency. Perhaps no topic could get him more animated than the benefits of weatherstripping, heat pumps, solar power, and fuel economy. He loved to spend time in his woodworking shop, where he made strip canoes and beautiful wooden clocks as gifts for his kids, nieces, nephews, and friends.