SELBYVILLE - Pauline Bunting Carey, wife, mother, philanthropist, died on Sept. 6, 2010, in Seaford, three days before her 90th birthday. Mrs. Carey was born in 1920 in Williamsville, to Chester and Marion (Lynch) Bunting. Her father founded Ideal Poultry Farm and her paternal grandfather, Gardner E. Bunting, founded Bunting Nurseries, a major supplier of rose bushes, asparagus and strawberry plants to the Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog. Mrs. Carey was an excellent student, skipping a year of school and graduating Salutatorian of her 1937 Selbyville High School class. As a child, she loved to read, an avocation that she enjoyed throughout her life. She graduated from the Women's College of the University of Delaware in 1941 with a B.S. degree in Elementary Education and treasured the friends that she met there. Her college yearbook notes her love of music, singing, dancing especially at the May Day Celebrations, and participating in athletic events. On July 7, 1943, Pauline Mae Bunting married Dr. Asher B. Carey, Jr., her high school sweetheart. Their wedding was held in the Chapel of the U.S. Army Air Force Base in Dodge City, Kan., where Dr. Carey, a dentist, was stationed for much of World War II. Ms. Bunting had driven her '41 Ford convertible on the Blue Highways from Delaware to Kansas to join her fiancé. With limited gasoline available during the war, the long drive to Kansas was only possible because of the generosity of her parent's neighbors, other farmers, who gave their extra gas ration coupons to her. Mrs. Carey and her husband celebrated their 65th anniversary in 2008. During the War, Mrs. Carey worked as an art director for a newspaper and did volunteer work for the Red Cross. Mrs. Carey and her husband returned to Selbyville in 1946 and she taught elementary school in the Frankford and Selbyville public schools. After starting a family, she served as bookkeeper for her husband's dental practice. She helped design his Selbyville office at Main and McCabe Streets and she created the popular Children's Corner of books, blocks and toys in his waiting room. Mrs. Carey was a loving and devoted Mother to her three children. She led May Day and other outings for their schools, was scout leader and den mother for their Girl and Boy Scout Troops, organized birthday parties including costumed cowboy and hobo parties, and welcomed pets including Alli the Alligator and Simon the Siamese cat. After her children left home for school, she wrote them a steady stream of warm letters often including the first crocus to bloom in her garden, local newspaper clippings, and other reminders of home. Nick-named "Betty Crocker" by one of her daughter's friends, Mrs. Carey was a fabulous cook and enjoyed entertaining the women's and couples bridge clubs to which she belonged. Her repertoire included baked ham and scalloped oysters, fried chicken and spoon bread, Lady Washington coconut cakes with lemon filling, eggnog and macaroons at Christmas, hand-cranked ice creams on the Fourth of July and sky-high angel food cakes for her husband's birthdays. One of her favorite coffee cake recipes calls for combining one beaten egg, half cup sugar, half cup of milk, two tablespoons of melted butter, one cup of flour, half teaspoon of salt and two teaspoons of baking powder. Bake in a greased nine-inch square pan at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Sprinkle generously with sifted powdered sugar and serve warm. Mrs. Carey was an artist who brought beauty to her home and community. An avid gardener, she filled her yard with camellias, rhododendrons, japonicas, forsythia, roses and flowering bulbs. She was an accomplished oil painter and studied with professional artists for many years. An amateur pianist, she loved to sing, listen to music from Glenn Miller, Frank Sinatra, Elvis and the Beatles, and attend musical performances. A supporter of the arts and member of the Sussex County Arts Council, she kept up with the latest movies, books and popular music. She traveled throughout the US and brought history alive for her children with trips to New York City, Philadelphia, Fort McHenry, Washington, D.C., Williamsburg, Savannah and St. Augustine. She visited friends and loved ones in far-flung destinations including her sister Alma in Arizona, her sons in Louisiana and Maine, and her daughter in Massachusetts. She enjoyed vacationing in Canada, South America, the Bahamas and the Caribbean. And she realized her life-long dream of visiting Europe where she especially admired the gardens, art and architecture of England. Mrs. Carey was a dedicated volunteer who often held leadership positions in the organizations that she supported. She belonged to the General Federation of Women for over 50 years. She served as the President of the Selbyville Community Club where she led the successful effort to raise substantial funds to restore the historic brick walls of the Redmen's Cemetery in Selbyville. She organized local fundraising campaigns for the American Cancer Society and was active in Republican politics and the Selbyville Improvement Association. A lifelong Methodist, Mrs. Carey grew up attending Sound Church in Williamsville where she played the piano for Sunday school and later joined the Salem Methodist Church in Selbyville where she served as a Trustee. She belonged to the Women's Society of Christian Service of the Selbyville Methodist Church (WSCS Circle 5) and served as its President. A student of local history, she researched her Bunting family's genealogy back to before the Mayflower and joined the Daughters of the American Revolution. Her lifelong passion for reading led her to become a patron of the public library in Selbyville. She was a founding member of the Friends of the Library and was instrumental in their successful fundraisers for the Library. She joined the Library's Board of Directors where she served for many years. And in 2004 she and her husband donated their home and adjoining property to the Selbyville Public Library. Their generosity was the catalyst for additional local and state funds that financed the construction of a 1,700-square-foot wing to the library that provides youth services. Mrs. Carey and her husband retired to Deerfield Beach, Fla., and enjoyed the winters there for many years. Each summer, they returned to their cottage in Fenwick Island where they had summered since 1952. While retuning there with her children, grandchildren, extended family and friends, Mrs. Carey loved to read and walk on the beach from which she collected displays of sea shells and driftwood. After 2000, the Careys returned to Sussex County and Mrs. Carey was living in Seaford at the time of her death. Mrs. Carey's husband, Dr. Asher Carey, Jr., died in 2008. She is survived by her children, Nancy Carey, Esq. of Nahant, Mass., and her husband Dr. DeWitt Brown III, and Dr. Asher Carey III of Dover and his wife Cindy and their children, Adrienne, Asher IV, Ben, and Amanda; Dr. Andrew Carey of Falmouth, Maine; by her brother, Coleman Bunting Sr. of Ocean City, Md.; and by beloved nieces and nephews in Delaware, Maryland, Arizona, Colorado and North Carolina. A funeral service for Mrs. Carey will be Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010, at Watson Funeral Home 211 S. Washington Street, Millsboro, at 9:30 a.m. Friends may call at the funeral home Friday evening Sept. 10, 2010, from 6 to 8 p.m. Interment will be in Roxana Cemetery, Roxana. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to the Dr. Asher and Pauline Carey Youth Services Center, Selbyville Public Library, Selbyville, Del, 19975; or to the Selbyville Community Club, P.O. Box 840, Selbyville, DE 19975-0351. Messages of condolence may be sent c/o Watson Funeral Home, P.O. Box 125, Millsboro, DE 19966 or via