DR. JOHN JESSE CAREY

1931 - 2017

DR. JOHN JESSE CAREY, passed away peacefully in his sleep in the early morning of Thursday, March 2, 2017, at Duke Hospice's Hock Family Pavilion in Durham, N.C. Born and raised in Fort Wayne, Ind., he was the son of the late Edmund Othmar Carey and Frieda Jesse Carey. His health had been steadily declining for several years, but he held on until all five of his daughters could be with him in his final days. Dr. Carey had a robust and rewarding life of academic, athletic, and professional accomplishments over his 85-year lifetime. He grew up in the Salem United Church of Christ, and graduated from Central High School in Fort Wayne in 1949. The first in his family to go to college, he received a full football scholarship to Duke University. His interest in Duke was piqued by Fort Wayne attorney John Hoffman, Jr., who encouraged and mentored Dr. Carey as a young high school student. He was also appreciative of the mentoring he received during his high school years from Fort Wayne attorney Edwin Thomas. The impact and significance of the support provided by Mr. Hoffman and Mr. Thomas during Dr. Carey's formative years served as a model for him as he "carried it forward" to mentor and encourage hundreds of students over the course of his lifetime. Dr. Carey graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Duke in 1953 and served as the defensive captain of the 1952 Duke team which won the championship of the Southern Conference and was named to various All-Southern and All-American teams. He was the recipient of numerous academic, athletic, and community accolades during his time at Duke. Following his Duke graduation, he entered the Yale Divinity School and received his B.D. and S.T.M. degrees in 1956 and 1957. He received his Ph.D. from Duke in 1965 and conducted post-doctoral research and work at several institutions around the U.S. and the world. He was a founder of the North American Paul Tillich Society, a member of the American Academy of Religion, and a twenty year consultant to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Dr. Carey began his career at the University Chaplain at Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C. The majority of his career was spent at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla., where from 1960 to 1986 he served in a variety of positions including among others Chair of the Department of Religion, Dean of Students, and Vice President for Student Affairs. He finished his academic career with a long stint as the Wallace M. Alston Professor of Bible and Religion and Chair of the Department of Religion at Agnes Scott College, as post from which he retired in 1999. In 2000, Dr. Carey accepted a post-retirement calling to serve as Interim Pastor of Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Anchorage, Alaska which he served at different times through 2009. Over the course of his long and distinguished career, Dr. Carey wrote or edited 12 books and more than 60 scholarly articles and was also an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He helped, mentored and encouraged hundreds of students and colleagues over the course of his professional life, and inspired hundreds more with his passionate dedication and leadership in the areas of peace studies, women's issues, and the rights and dignity due to gay and lesbian people. His family will remember him as a warm-hearted teddy bear of a man who loved dogs, the Florida State Seminoles, all college sports, and ice cream, and had an infinite supply of love, encouragement, support, and good humor. "Words cannot capture how much he will be missed". Dr. Carey is survived by his wife of 47 years, Mary Charlotte McCall of Chapel Hill, N.C., and their loving and loyal dog, Pookie; his sister, Mary Louise Whitmore of Cedarburg, Wisc.; his five daughters, Sarah Kathryn Carey (Chad Hunsaker) of Gainesville, Fla., Marylynn Carey of Tallahassee, Fla., Beth Ann Carey of Tallahassee, Fla., Joanna Carey Cleveland (Sam Cleveland) of Chapel Hill, N.C., and Jessica Carey Graham (Jason Graham) of Anchorage, Alaska; and his five grandchildren, to whom he was always known as "Big Papa", Jada Marina Graham (14), Jolie Cay Graham (13), Jersey Meridian Graham (11), John Carey ("Jack") Cleveland (8), and Susanna Elizabeth Cleveland (5). He also is survived by his first wife and longtime friend, Sally Stanback Malloy, of Tallahassee, Fla. He was also preceded in death by his beloved aunt, Sophie Jesse. Celebration of Life services will be held at First Presbyterian Church in Tallahassee, Fla. on Saturday, April 22, 2017, and at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Anchorage, Alaska on Saturday, June 3, 2017. The family encourages all those who loved and cared about Dr. Carey to honor him by acting with kindness, compassion, and humility to all. Anyone who wishes to do so also may consider donating to an organization that works for the causes that mattered most to him, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, Doctors Without Borders, and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).