98-year-old Publix icon remembered by friends, family

For many who shopped the Publix at Colonial Crossing over the past 20 years, employee Grace Carey was the very spirit of a grandmother — caring, friendly, always with a welcoming smile and a willing ear as she bagged your groceries.

The 98-year-old died Dec. 15 after she drove home following her regular Monday shift and sat relaxing in her favorite chair.

Mary Tanner, who knew and worked with Carey for many of those years, said the Tennessee native told her how she was going to pass.

"When it's my time to go, I'm going to drive home from work, sit in my chair and go," Tanner said the friend she called "Sweet Grace" predicted.

Tanner said Carey even talked about it the Saturday before she died, the last time she dined out with her group of four Publix friends: Tanner, Gretchen Crockett and Lori Bennett.

"I know it's getting close," Tanner said Carey told the group. "I'm getting tired."

Despite that, Crockett said Carey had a mind of her own: "Right up until her last breath. She wouldn't let anyone drive her home that Monday."

Carey was an icon at the Publix with many customers making sure they came on the Monday, Wednesday or Friday shifts she always worked.

Brian West, a Publix spokesman, said Carey was the company's oldest employee. "She STARTED working for us 20 years ago. That's just amazing," he said.

"When you have someone with that kind of life experience, that speaks volumes for what they can pass along to customers," West said. "We have some pretty upset folks right now."

Without her, workers and customers say there is a decided difference, something missing, a spirit gone.

"Nobody can replace her," customer Tom Callan said. "She was a fixture."

Once, a few years ago, ill from cancer treatments and awaiting his wife who was shopping at the store, Callan, 72, needed to get car keys from her.

"Grace went and got the keys from Barbara, sat me down in the car and then loaded the car with our groceries," he said in amazement. "She was a beautiful lady."

Callan's wife Barbara added: "She was one in a million."

Similar words came from co-workers.

Lori Minor worked with Carey for the past three years.

"She was a great lady," she said during a memorial viewing Monday, her voice cracking and a wad of tissues in hand. "Her smile and just her in general. If you were in a bad mood she'd smile and get you out of it."

Carey allowed Minor to call her "nanny" after the 40-year-old lost her own grandmother.

"She was a sweet lady," she said. "I transferred to another store for a week. I just had to come back. She was a big inspiration."

Minor talked with Carey shortly before she left on what was unknowingly her last day.

"She worked until 2:30 then she said she wasn't feeling well," Minor said. "I gave her a big hug and a kiss and told her I'd see her Wednesday. Then she drove home. She was amazing."

Relatives of Carey knew all along what coworkers and customers eventually found out about Carey's caring ways. But they also knew what one called her "rascally" side as well as her strict, no-nonsense but homespun demeanor.

"She ate raw potatoes and buttermilk mixed with cornbread," said grandson Mathew Carver. "She was dedicated and loved to go to work, it kept her going."

"I always looked up to her," another grandson, Jason Carey, said. "She was a tough old broad. She was just so healthy. I was thinking she'd get to at least 105 years old."

Both also smiled when they remembered being asked by their nana to go find a switch for some well-deserved punishment.

Lauren Carver, 29, Carey's only granddaughter, recounted with laughter the day family went to her house to visit and found the nonagenarian up a ladder wielding an electric chainsaw.

"She sure was stubborn. But not in a bad way," Carver said. "She was always there for us. She was sharp. She was awesome. She had mellowed a lot — but she was still on point."

Connect with this reporter: MichaelBraunNP (Facebook) @MichaelBraunNP (Twitter)

news-press.com

Watch a video of Grace Carey during her years at Publix.

About Grace Clark Carey

•Born: May 21, 1916

•Birthplace: Athens, Tenn.

•Married: For 50 years to Frances Earle Carey

•Survivors: Five children, five grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and a great-great grandchild.

•Employment: Last 20 years at Publix. Previously worked during World War II making bomb-sights at a plant in Fort Lauderdale and for a glider plant in Deland.