Father Time may appear old and feeble, but he is relentless. On May 5, 2026 he caught up with Claudia “LaVonne” Dorman Carey and tapped her on her shoulder. LaVonne silently smiled as she rested in eternal peace.
LaVonne was born on Dec. 5, 1945 to Claudia and Gardiner Dorman in Cambridge, Md. Raised in Bivalve and Salisbury, Md., she grew up listening to American Bandstand with Dick Clark and The Buddy Deane Show playing the best music ever including some of her favorites: Tommy Edwards, The Platters, The Drifters, Henry Mancini, and Johnny Mathis. LaVonne graduated from Wicomico Senior High School in the Class of ’63 and earned her degree as a registered nurse from Peninsula General Hospital School of Nursing in 1966.
On Aug. 27, 1966, at age 20, LaVonne married Ron Carey, her fifth grade heartthrob. Together, they raised two awesome sons, Eric and Morgan. LaVonne and Ron began their nearly 60 years of togetherness living in College Park, Md., later moving to Ridgely, Md. and Fort Collins, Colo., ultimately ending up in Edgecomb.
Along the way, LaVonne earned her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing in 1989 from the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, Colo.
Throughout her nursing career, LaVonne had a wide variety of responsibilities and experiences. She began her career as a nurse supervisor in a nursing home in the Washington, D.C. area. Following her move to Ridgely, LaVonne served as a geriatric nurse in a residential school for exceptional children operated by a convent of Benedictine Sisters. She also taught classes to prospective nurses at North Caroline High School in Denton, Md.
Stepping outside of her nursing career, LaVonne became an aerobic dance instructor for the Jackie Sorenson fitness program for a couple of years.
In 1982, LaVonne and her family moved to Fort Collins. There, she returned to her nursing career as a nursing home supervisor, a rehabilitation nurse at McKee Medical Center, public health nurse with the Larimer County Health Department, and, finally, as the head nurse in a private dermatology practice.
Leaving Colorado in her rearview mirror and facing retirement, in 2004 LaVonne moved to Maine. Concerned she wasn’t ready to fully retire, LaVonne volunteered for several years as a teacher to inmates at Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset. She focused her classes on famous historical figures (both the good and bad) and personal health, hygiene, and sexually transmitted diseases.
Outside of work and volunteering, LaVonne liked to hone her cooking skills, play golf with her husband and a group of friends and to travel domestically and internationally. Over the years, LaVonne sipped a glass of Chardonnay in all but a handful of the U.S. states and in at least 36 foreign countries and territories ranging from Tahiti and New Zealand to many European countries and Caribbean islands.
LaVonne is survived by her husband, Ronald J. Carey; a son, Morgan G. Carey; daughters-in-law, Danielle H. Carey and Laura L. Carey; five grandchildren, Logan J. Carey, Jackson G. Carey, Sierra G. Carey, Olivia H. Carey, and Sawyer G. Carey; her half-sister, Ursula Hastings; and stepsister, Lucy Miles.
Besides her mother, Claudia, and father, Gardiner Dorman, LaVonne was predeceased by her son, Eric J. Carey; brother, Gayle T. Dorman; her stepfather, Norwood P. Hastings; and stepbrother, Russell Hastings.
At LaVonne’s request, there will not be a formal memorial service. She requests that her family and friends remember her by making donations in her name to either the Central Loudoun Little League, Eric J. Carey Scholarship Fund (clll.org and click on Donations page), or the Alzheimer’s Disease Research, 22512 Gateway Center Drive, Clarksburg, MD 20871 or the Lincoln County Animal Shelter, 27 Atlantic Highway, P.O. Box 7, Edgecomb, ME 04556.
LaVonne’s memories of her mother and father and youthful summers spent on the shores of the Nanticoke River were never far from her heart. She requested that portions of her ashes be laid to rest on her parent’s graves and spread over the waters of the Nanticoke River in Bivalve, Md.
