Late of Carey Bay

Feeling the love for volunteers at The Ryerson Index today. Recently members of Lake Macquarie Family History Group Inc. scanned death and funeral notices from the Newcastle Morning Herald, and other volunteers indexed them.

My earlier searches of Ryerson for Carey Bay had returned a few results from out of area newspapers. With the addition entries from a local newspaper, the Newcastle Morning Herald, to the database I was hoping for better results from a new search.

My expectations were exceeded. Yesterday I revisited the Index and found 1248 entries that included "Late of Carey Bay" or something similar. I noted that there are an additional 40 entries for the alternate spelling of Cary Bay.

Numbers from my initial "Carey Bay" search

I started by checking the 310 entries up to the year 2000. Around half of these are newly identified residents for my One Place Study that I hadn't found in other records. This is probably due to the fact that Carey Bay also known earlier as Cary Bay,  was previously a locality in Toronto until it was gazetted as "Carey Bay" on 31 May 1991 when the boundaries were determined. Electoral Rolls and several other records show these people as living in Toronto.

A selection of entries from the Ryerson Index giving sources for the information

I have plenty to keep me busy as I further explore these individuals and follow up on the 900+ entries I have yet to examine.

Centenarians

As I have been working through the Ryerson Index to identify deaths of Carey/Cary Bay residents I noticed an interesting trend. 

Many Ryerson entries include the date of death of those listed. Of the 1183 records with death dates from 1905 to 2024 I examined, I found that 457 entries did not include a death date. I was surprised to discover that 309 residents did not pass away until in their 80's and another 237 lived into their nineties. 

I was astonished to find that 14 centenarians took their last breath in Carey Bay. While I would like to think that this is due to the environment in our village I have a strong suspicion that it is because, until recently, many of these people spent their last years in the Nursing Home at the Anglicare Carey Bay Retirement Village in Laycock Street. While the nursing home facility is currently closed the 31 two bedroom self contained villas provide accommodation for seniors.

A perusal of the entries indicates that many of those listed were formerly residents of other local suburbs.

Following is a list of  the fourteen Carey Bay centenarians I found via the Ryerson Index. I would love to hear from anyone who can add to the stories of these 12 women and two men.

Ann Jane Bull - Died 26-Jul-1974, aged 104

John Eastlake - Died 1-Dec-2003, aged 102

Margaret Aylwin (Peg) Liver - Died 25-Sep-2005, aged 101

Thelma Burleigh Bear - Died 30-Apr-2007, aged 100

Marjorie Doreen Roberts - Died 22-May-2009, aged 102

Barbara Owen - Died 22-Jun-2009, aged 102

Vera Maud Craze - Died 27-Aug-2011, aged 100

William Robert (Bill) Daniels - Died 10-Oct-2012, aged 103

Isobel Jean Mathieson - Died 2-Mar-2014, aged 103

Marjorie Anne Mears - Died 4-Nov-2016, aged 100

Muriel Evans - Died 25-Sep-2017, aged 101
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/258278658/muriel-evans

Betty May Dean - Died 11-Oct-2019, aged 100
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/247807555/betty-may-dean

Lorna Gloria Bissett - Died 27-Apr-2020, aged 103

Dr Robert (Bob) Alfred Lindsay - Died 28 April 2022 - In his 100th year

Colleen Iona Stronach - Died 13-Jan-2024, aged 101

Updated 24 April 2025