PROSPECT — The Town Council meeting scheduled for today has been canceled out of respect for the death of longtime town employee Carmaine “Carey” Miele.
Carey Miele worked as the secretary of Algonquin and Community Schools for 30 years before moving to Town Hall in 1998.
Town Hall will not open until 1 p.m. Wednesday to allow town employees to attend Carey Miele’s funeral.
Carey Miele, who was 89, worked up until the day she went to the hospital with pneumonia about two weeks ago, according to her middle of three sons, Mike Miele. She died Thursday from complications of the infection.
“She was like everybody’s mother. Everybody in my office still called her Mrs. Miele,” Prospect Mayor Robert Chatfield said Monday.
Chatfield said Carey Miele had good old-fashioned work ethic.
“She would count paper quicker than a bank teller could count money,” he said. “At 20 to 8 every morning, the elevator doors would open up and she’d be ready for work. She’s going to be missed by all generations.”
Mike Miele said the job kept his mother going, even as the usual progression of age meant she had to hitch rides to work.
“She was a huge part of the community. She loved taking care of the children,” Mike Miele said.
Mike Miele said his mother volunteered typing Braille and was a member of the Lady’s Guild at St. Anthony Church. He said she was a devout Catholic who attended mass weekly.
Carey Miele took her last breath as her family and the chaplain from Saint Mary’s prayed over her, Mike Miele said.
“She was prepared to meet her Lord,” he said.
Carey Miele was born in North Hampton, Mass., and went to Sts. Peter and Paul School in Waterbury. She was the president of her class at Waterbury Catholic High School, keeping the students quiet before the nuns came in, Mike Miele said.
Once, Mike Miele said he responded to a medical emergency call to his mother’s home and found her lying on the kitchen floor, unable to get up. Although she needed help, she first asked him to take the bread out of the oven.
He said Carey Miele loved Prospect, going to work every day, and being productive.
Her wake is from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Prospect Memorial Funeral Home and her funeral is at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Anthony Church.
