Melanie Jane Carey

Melanie Jane Carey a resident of the Chesapeake Shores of Virginia went home to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus on March 12th, 2025, after a life well lived! Melanie Jane was born on April 13th, 1948. She is proceeded in death by her parents Francis and Betty Hendricks and survived by her stepmom, Tomaco Hendricks of Clearwater, Florida, and her Godmother, Patricia Wharton of the Chesapeake Shores of Maryland. Melanie loved learning! While in high school she acquired her cosmetology license and worked on film and movie sets while putting herself through college at Virginia Commonwealth University to obtain multiple degrees and two Masters of Science in family and child psychology and counseling psychology. She furthered her studies at Rehma Bible Institute and Chesapeake Bible College and Seminary in Christian Ministries and further counseling studies. Melanie Jane did missionary work all over the world. Touching lives, feeding the hungry, building orphanages and shelters for families. She traveled to Israel, Norway, Sweden and communist Poland during the Cold War with the Catholic charities. Melanie Jane and her husband Jim Carey spent their honeymoon doing mission work in Hatti, she traveled to Haiti six times for missions. While working for the Salvation Army she traveled to Mexico multiple times to help build and restore orphanages in Mexico City and in the mountain regions. On one trip she called her daughter, Jessica, to ask for extra prayers as she was taking a bus load of orphans to escape the cartel. Another time she marched through a battlefield in Israel singing songs, where both sides fighting thought she was a Heavenly angel! Yet her greatest mission was the love she had for helping to feed families on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia! She rang bells at the kettle for over three decades and loved people greatly! After living short term in the old city of Israel in 1987 while playing music for the Tabernacle, Melanie came back home to Richmond, Virginia where she met her husband Jim Carey, while playing the flute on the Praise and Worship team at Faith Landmarks. Melanie and Jim were married on Valentines Day of 1989 where they joined their blended family of amazing children. She worked for the Salvation Army as a volunteer in the 80s and in the 1990s she went to work for the Salvation Army of the Eastern Shore, eventually becoming the director of the DMV Salvation Army Social Services where she served the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware. She did missions trips with the SA Corp to Mexico where she helped to build orphanages and counseling persons who have been trafficked and abused. She retired from her decades of service to sit on the board of the Redeem Our Children Foundation and serve in ministry with her family. Melanie Jane is survived by her loving husband and best friend, Jim Carey of the Chesapeake Shores of Virginia. They have 5 children: daughter and son, Jessica Stern Foster and Gary of Queen Anne's County, MD; daughter, Heather Martin and her husband, Eric, of Richmond, VA; son, Todd Desper of Beckley, WV; son, James Carey of Lexington, KY; son, Jordan Carey of Charlotte, NC. Her beloved brother, Gene Hendricks and his wife Linda of Myrtle Beach, SC. She has many grandchildren: Madeline, Kyle Bejamin, Alexander, Christopher, Justyna (& Jake), Krystina (& Tyler), Justin (& Sarah); and great grands: Jaxson, Jaelyn, Jason, Robbie, Asher, Xavier, Elsie Grace, and Vivian Grace. Her God children: Jonathan and Melissa Sundblom of Osage Beach, MO; Christopher and Natalia Edwards of Dooralong, New South Wales; and Kimbeli Kuebel of Stevensville, MD. Melanie Jane has many cousins, nieces, and nephews. A graveside service will be held at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery in Easton, Maryland on March 17th, 2025, at 1 o’clock in the afternoon. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Eastern Shore Salvation Army Social Services Food Pantry, a ministry Melanie Jane felt strongly about.

Melanie Jane Carey

April 13, 1948 - March 12, 2025