Peggie Lambert Carey

Peggie Lambert Carey

Asheville - Peggie Lambert Carey died December 1, 2017, in Asheville. Born in Albemarle, North Carolina, she was the daughter of the late Merrimon R. and Rose S. Lambert.

She received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Women's College of the University of North Carolina (now UNC Greensboro) and the University of North Carolina — Chapel Hill.

Her professional career was in social work as a clinician and an administrator. She was executive director of the National Association of Social Workers for North Carolina and for California and assistant director for Special Programs at the University of Tennessee School of Social Work. In Asheville, she was executive director of Life After Cancer and a founder and board member of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship.

In the 1960s, Peggie was Director of Women's Activities for North Carolina Traffic Safety Council, working to promote mandatory alcohol testing and seat belt use with the North Carolina General Assembly. She was on the planning committee and a delegate to the first White House Conference on Children and Youth and served the National Foundation — March of Dimes as the North Carolina Director of Women's Volunteer Activities in the early 1960s.

For many years, she was involved in the General Federation of Women's Clubs where she served as the third vice president of the North Carolina Federation (Director for Junior Clubs) and chaired the Public Affairs Committee and the Community Affairs Committees. In the Southeast Council of the General Federation, she was junior chair. At the national level, Mrs. Carey was a member of the board of directors and the junior chair of International Clubs and Committees.

Dedicated to volunteerism, she was formerly a mediator for the Asheville Mediation Center and the Better Business Bureau, a board member of Meals on Wheels and the Council on Aging, and a past president of the local Mental Health Association. In addition, she was a volunteer for various other local organizations including the Altrusa Club of Asheville, a member of the Travelers Club and a Health Adventure Clown.

Peggie is preceded in death by her husband, David E. Carey, and her son, Benjamin Sharpe. Surviving her are her daughters, Deborah Sharpe of Flower Mound, Texas, and Dianne Sharpe, Leicester, North Carolina; her stepchildren, Peter Carey and wife, Linda, of St. Louis, Missouri, and Susan Hunt and husband, Gary, of Woodburn, Oregon; her granddaughter Melissa Stallings and her two sons, Will and C.J.; her step-grandchildren, Joshua Carey, of Frisco, Colorado; Elisabeth Schreibfeder of Atlanta, Georgia; Melissa Hunt and daughter, Kamryn, of Hubbard, Oregon; and Jason Hunt and son, Tyler, of Happy Valley, Oregon.

In lieu of flowers, a donation in Peggie Carey's honor may be made to Grace Episcopal Church, Asheville or the Memory Care unit of Care Partners, Asheville.