Anne Louise Carey

Anne Louise Carey, 84 of Kewadin and formerly of the Detroit area, entered into eternal life on November 23, 2025. Anne was born on September 11, 1941, along with her twin sister Mary Kathryn to parents Thomas Barney and Veronica Genevieve (Cullinan). They were raised alongside their siblings Thomas Richard and James John in Grosse Pointe Park. Anne was educated at the Academy of Sacred Heart in both Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan and Rochester, New York. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Mercy College, Detroit, then joined the Sisters of St Joseph, Nazareth. Anne taught middle school in Highland Park, Battle Creek, and in the farm country of Croswell. Known for her good humor and approachability, young children would knock on the convent door and ask if Sister Marie Richard (Anne) could come out and play. Without hesitation, she would grab her baseball glove and play ball. Anne later went on to earn her Master’s in Social Work from Wayne State University and joined Henry Ford Hospital where she was the first-ever social worker hired by the Emergency Department. Being a forward thinker, she knew how to enter a place, identify the issues and then come up with a plan for success. There she became instrumental in laying the foundation of their program of emotional support and crisis intervention for patients and families. She started many of the protocols and procedures for caring for patients with psycho-social needs. Anne worked with the team that was pivotal in developing the first rape-evidence collection kits for the country, and the protocols for how they were to be handled and processed, while simultaneously addressing the trauma for the victim. She went on to work for Beaumont Hospital, Troy, where she started their grief program for parents who had lost a child. She started the grief support group for parents called “First Sunday” and it eventually expanded to helping children as well. Anne also had her own private practice that served individuals with trauma and grief. She was an incredibly gifted speaker, teacher, mentor and spiritual guide. It would be impossible to summarize her entire life’s work and the impact she had on so many who benefited from her gifts. In her later years, Anne was also a spiritual director and mentor at Manresa Jesuit House, Bloomfield Hills, where she team-taught Ignatian Spirituality. Anne also worked for the Sisters of St. Joseph Nazareth in Kalamazoo where her mission was to address the problems the Sisters were experiencing with aging and help them connect with their fellow sister who were failing in health. She was also a sacristan for many years at Our Lady of Fatima in Oak Park and more recently a parishioner at Sacred Heart of Elk Rapids. She was preceded in death by her parents and stepmothers Catherine D’Arcy and Gertrude “Trudy” Meyer; and her brothers Thomas and James and sister-in-law Ellen. She is survived by her twin sister Mary Kathryn Carey; sister-in-law Pat, stepsisters Cheryl Ann Meyer and Marilyn Bracey; and nieces and nephews Thomas Carey, Patricia (Carey) Blanchard, Peter Carey, Daniel Carey, Robert Carey, Mary Beth Carey, David Carey, Mary Kathleen Carey, Christopher Carey and Michael Carey. Memorial contributions in Anne’s honor may be directed to Congregation of St. Joseph in Nazareth (https://csjoseph.org/) or to Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Elk Rapids, for their building fund https://abundant.co/sher/give. Anne will be remembered for her deep love of God and her kind heart, as a wonderful teacher cherished by her students, for her terrific sense of humor and incredible storytelling abilities, and her constant encouragement and talent for building community—all complemented by that unforgettable red hair.

Anne Louise Carey

September 11, 1941 - November 23, 2025