Obituary of Elizabeth Alice Hamel

It is with great sadness we announce the passing, on March 12, 2014, of our family matriarch, Elizabeth Alice Hamel (DeMay), who recently celebrated her 94th birthday. She was pre-deceased, in 2003, by her husband Joseph Peter, with whom she shared a deep friendship and abiding love for 54 years. Elizabeth, known as Betty to her friends and family, was born in Indiana on Dec.7, 1919 and raised in Detroit, Michigan by her adoptive parents Frederic and Carrie DeMay, on Solvay Street, in the Catholic parish of All Saints Church. Betty was an only child who began piano lessons early on, and discovered her love of singing in church and in school. She also discovered another of her loves -- her great enthusiasm for basketball-- in attendance at the games for All Saints High School. Betty continued her private and school music studies, eventually earning her degree of Bachelors in Music from Marygrove College, in Detroit. Upon graduation, she taught piano privately, in homes all over Detroit, and in various music studios. The lonely life of a private teacher, and piano recitalist, appealed less and less to her after graduation and she sought ways to change her life and feel more part of a wider community, first by volunteering at hospitals during the war. She once said she would have seriously considered joining the Armed Services in some capacity, and in particular the Navy as the sea appealed to her, but as the only child she felt she couldn't leave her parents alone. She then took a job at Michigan Bell Telephone Company, where she met a more varied mix of friends, and eventually, was introduced to her future husband by a mutual friend. It was a blind date, and it worked out better than either could have imagined. It was also about that time that the Rackham Symphony Choir was founded, with whom Betty would perform, by themselves, and also under the baton of Paul Paray with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra; and so it was partly Betty and Joe's mutual love of music, as well as their religious faith, that led them to fall in love and start a family together. Betty was a beloved mother and wife, a solid support to children and husband and an indefatigable source of strength and good humor, tenderness and unconditional love all her life. The years flew by. After the children were grown, she worked as a Unit Secretary for St. John's Hospital in Detroit. After many years of being absent from the work force, and in her 50s, she dove into the challenge with characteristic determination and good will, finally retiring for good in the early 1980s. Not content to sit about, Betty and Joe traveled the United States and Europe and Canada, visiting dream spots and far flung children and old friends and army buddies. Betty took French classes in preparation for a trip to Montreal, and the two of them spent years ushering for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, once again renewing their mutual love of music in retirement. Whenever they could, one of their greatest joys was to dance together, be it Square Dancing or to music from the Big Band era. Betty and Joe loved their friends and family with a kindness and interest that knew no depth, and kept in touch with all of them, to the last of their strength. In later years, Joe would fall to Alzheimer's. Betty took care of him until the last five months of his life became too much handle, and she visited him constantly until he departed this life in April 2003. The last 11 years of her life have been a source of inspiration to all her friends and family, overcoming surgeries, and illnesses, and never forgetting her grandchildren's and great-grandchildren's birthdays. She spent her life loving her friends and family and expressed this by praying the rosary for them all, everyone, everyday. Betty is survived by 6 sons-- Robert (Elizabeth), Gary (Susan), Dennis (Lisa), Timothy, Martin, and Joseph-- 2 Great-grandchildren, and 6 Grandchildren