Sr. Mary Theresa Pelky, RSM, died Oct. 9 at McAuley Life Center in Farmington Hills. She was 87 and a Sister of Mercy for 68 years.

Sr. Pelky was born May 17, 1928, the 12th of 13 children of Luigi and Ellen (Drow) Pelky. She joined the Sisters of Mercy in Detroit on Sept. 7, 1947, receiving the religious name Sr. Mary Carol, and made perpetual vows Aug. 16, 1953.

For several decades, Sr. Pelky ministered and taught in Mercy schools in Hazel Park, Grand Haven, Muskegon, Detroit, Temperance, Berkley, Cadillac and Traverse City. She became principal at St. Michael School in Brunswick in 1982, while teaching kindergarten, where she remained for 19 years. She moved to McAuley Life Center in 2005, where she volunteered and took up painting.

Sr. Pelky is survived by her sisters, Evelyn Hutchins of Hesperia, Mich., and Lillian Pelky of Port Angeles, Wash., many nieces and nephews, friends and colleagues, and Sisters of Mercy.

Mass of Christian Burial was Oct. 13 at McAuley Life Center in Farmington Hills.