Arleta Butterworth Ferrette

In Loving Memory Of
Arleta Hope Butterworth Ferrette
April 18, 1944 - March 14, 2025

Arleta (Lee) Hope Butterworth Ferrette grew up in Morrisville, PA, daughter to Roscoe and Madeline Butterworth, and sister to Bruce. She spent most of her summers down the shore at her family’s home in Beach Haven Terrace on Long Beach Island, NJ.

In high school, Lee was a natural athlete, beauty and leader. She won the Miss Bucks County competition and competed in the Miss Pennsylvania contest the year she graduated. As the president of her school’s Future Teachers of America club, Lee planned to go to college and become a teacher.

Life had other plans for Lee, however. It was while she was working at Bell Telephone that she met the love of her life, Joel (Jay) Ferrette who worked hard to attract and finally, win her attentions. They married in 1965 and as a young couple, they bought a small car repair shop from Jay’s dad. Through Lee’s natural business acumen, Jay’s charm and talent in the garage, and sheer hard work, they grew it into a thriving business that also included carwashes and a real estate portfolio.  Even while Lee invested so much of her energy into the family business, she always found time to give back to her community through participation in organizations like the Jaycees and more recently volunteering with her church in a program that provided food, clothing, school supplies and emotional support to children in an under resourced part of central Florida. Lee's friends also felt her kindness, generosity and exceptional skills as a hostess during their visits to her home. During their life together, Lee and Jay had two children, bought a farm in New Jersey and raised sheep, rescued and loved many elderly dogs, became skilled in ballroom dancing, visited some of the most iconic parks in the United States in their RV, and traveled to almost every continent in the world multiple times.

Lee had a thirst for knowledge that led her to always seek opportunities to not just learn about topics of interest to her, but to actually become professionally certified or licensed in those areas. Her friends and family would say that she never did anything halfway. Her passion for gardening, for example, led her to become a member of the first graduating class of Master Gardeners of Mercer County, NJ. Later, after she supported both of her children to earn their undergraduate degrees, Lee was awarded her own Bachelor of Science degree in Horticulture from the Thomas Edison State College. When she and Jay wanted to buy their NJ farm, she got her real estate license. When a health scare in the family led her to want to learn more about emergency response, she trained for and became an Emergency Medical Technician rather than just settling for taking a weekend first aid course.

It was this tenacious quality that kicked in again nearly ten years ago, when Jay was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Lee read everything she could get her hands on about the disease and decided to downsize their responsibilities by selling the businesses and farm and putting themselves in the middle of a large retirement community in Florida known for its hundreds of clubs and activities. Lee wanted to slow Jay’s decline by keeping his brain working at new things because that is what her extensive and intensive research indicated they should do. Lee’s persistence and dedication to doing what was best for Jay was recognized in a 2020 profile in Brain and Life Magazine.

In 2023, Lee and Jay moved from Florida to the Asbury Methodist Village in Gaithersburg, MD to be closer to family. There, you could often find them joining in on numerous campus activities, walking the nature trails, tending to their garden plot or visiting with family.

Lee is survived by her husband of sixty years, Jay Ferrette, her two children, Holly and Scott Ferrette, and two grandchildren, Dharma and Tessa Gonzalez-Ferrette.

We invite family and friends to share their condolences, memories, and prayers on this webpage, offering comfort to those who mourn her passing.

Care entrusted to Thibadeau Mortuary Service, p.a.
124 E. Diamond Avenue
Gaithersburg, MD 20877-5009
(301) 495-4950
www.InterFaithFunerals.com