Mary Rayes

Mary Rayes of Greenbush passed away on Feb. 4, 2026, one month shy of her 93rd birthday.
She was born Mary Veronica Brandt on March 7, 1933, the second of six children to Raymond Otto Brandt and Elizabeth (Authorson) Brandt, in Royal Oak. She graduated from St. James High School, Ferndale, in 1951, and spent a year as a novice with the Sisters of St. Joseph in Kalamazoo.
Although she came to realize her future would not be in the convent, Mary remained a deeply spiritual person. Mary enrolled in the nursing program at Mount Carmel Mercy College in Detroit, graduating in 1956.
A year later she would marry the love of her life, a young chemist named Mitch Rayes, with whom she would spend the rest of her life. Mitch and Mary were blessed with six kids, three boys and three girls, and Mary stayed home to raise the family. When the kids were older Mary resumed her nursing career, working the midnight shift at Botsford General Hospital in Farmington Hills as charge nurse for intensive care and then the surgical recovery department, until she retired in 1995.
That same year Mitch and Mary sold their home in Livonia and moved permanently up north, to their get-away house in Greenbush, surrounded by the cedars and pines Mary loved so well. She always said green was her favorite color, and it showed from every window.
Mary was an active member of the Sacred Heart parish in Oscoda, where she was a full-time Sacristan, taught catechism and brought the eucharist to those who were sick or homebound throughout the community.
Anyone who knew Mary will remember her kindness, which was unconditional, her wit and humor, and her beautiful smile. She was a wonderful mother to her children, and a devoted wife and companion to her husband of more than 68 years.
She is survived, and will be dearly missed, by her husband Mitch; her six kids, Mitch (Dona Sinkevicius), Mary (Ghazi) Rayes, Joe (Sandy) Rayes, Patty (David) McNinch, Kathy (Tom) Lotter and Dan (Nancy Velez Ocasio); 22 grandchildren, and 20 great grandchildren.
A mass will be offered in celebration of Mary at Sacred Heart Church in Oscoda at 11 a.m. on April 17. Interment will follow at Saint Anne Catholic Cemetery in Harrisville.