HELEN W. CAREY

  
HELEN W. CAREY (Age 89)  
A doyenne of Capitol Hill (a real estate broker, property manager, landlord and mentor to a generation of young real estate professionals, house-renovators, and newcomers to DC; a true aficionado of the Hill's denizens and cityscape), died November 14, 2012, at home in Alexandria, VA. Born June 21, 1923, in Pittsfield, MA, she was the daughter of Elmer J. and Myrtle F. (Jack) Wade, who were natives of the Bath, Maine, region. A 1945 graduate of Duke Women's College, she lived in New York's Greenwich Village for several years before marrying John W. Carey on September 11, 1948. They first met while at Duke and were reunited after the war in a chance encounter on the street in New York. They moved to the Washington area to pursue further studies, soon settled in Georgetown and began to raise a family there before moving to Virginia in 1955. Helen and her husband were active in the Fairlington Players and Little Theatre of Alexandria. An early supporter of Arena Stage, she remained a subscriber to a number of local theaters. In the late 50s and early 60s, serving as a volunteer with the League of Women Voters, she rose to positions of regional prominence and lobbied Congress to promote clean water and public transportation. In 1964, she began working in real estate, initially in Foggy Bottom. Within several years, she established her own business as a broker near Eastern Market on Capitol Hill. Helen remained active for four decades in the business and civic life of the Hill. An amateur photographer who learned darkroom skills from her father and a watercolorist of both still-life and landscape subjects, she often chose as her subject Capitol Island, Maine, where she spent summers since girlhood. After her husband died in 1990, she traveled widely with adventuresome friends. She is survived by two sons, John (Wade) Jr. (and his husband, Edward Coltman) of Capitol Hill and David B. (and his wife, Neill Crawford) of Richmond, VA; and a daughter, Jean Louise Gudaitis (and her husband, Richard Gudaitis, and son, Charles Wade Gudaitis), of Falls Church, VA. A memorial will be on Saturday, December 1, at 3 p.m., Everly-Wheatley Funeral Home, 1500 West Braddock Road, Alexandria, VA 22302 In lieu of flowers or other tributes, the family suggests donations to the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, 545 7th Street SE, Washington, DC. Flowers and a guest register may be found at www.everlyfuneralhomes.com