Loretta "Arlene" Devitt

Arlene Devitt was born in June 1932, in Chicago, Illinois. She was the daughter of Aloysius and Natalie McCarthy. During her childhood years and teenage years through travel and experiences with her mother she grew into a vibrant, worldly and glamorous young woman.

These attributes served her well as she began her business career as a secretary/receptionist at the People’s Gas Company office location across from the Art Gallery on Michigan Avenue.

It was in this employment position that she met her future husband, James Devitt, a fellow office worker for the same company. Their first date involved James in the role of teaching Arlene how to drive a car – a skill that she learned quite quickly, and developed to such an extent, that she had a driving record which was largely unblemished by any accidents or serious traffic violations during her sixty plus years of driving in Illinois and Florida.

Arlene and James were married in 1952, in Chicago, Illinois, in a small quiet church ceremony, with their closest family members and friends. Arlene and James celebrated sixty-six anniversaries, before the death of James Devitt in December 2018.

Shortly after their marriage, James was drafted into the US Army during the final stages of the Korean War. James was very fortunate to serve his entire two years in various stateside assignments in Georgia and Virginia. It was during the later period of James’s military service, in Virginia, that their first son, Neal, was born in 1954.

After the completion of his military service, Arlene and James moved back to their city of birth, Chicago, Illinois – and welcomed their second son, Mark in 1956. They also moved into their first single family home (which they built) in Hinsdale, Illinois.

Following both of their parents, James and Arlene moved to Florida in 1958, and began their Southern residency which spanned the rest of their respective lives. Soon after this Southern move, their family expanded to include their two daughters, Karen and Monica - which established a harmoniously balanced household of three men and three women, which as Neal humorously noted - as forever resolving all family arguments in favor of the women.

For the early period of their marriage, Arlene was a stay-at-home Mom for her four children, and provided a supremely stable and loving home for her family. As the children became older, Arlene resumed her business career as an assistant for a furniture retailer and several local real estate brokers. It’s this time that she discovered her love of ocean, snorkeling, the Hillsboro Lighthouse, painting, shell collecting, bird watching and any else she could absorb in nature. Beyond the immediate family Arlene’s days also included precious times with her mother (Gram) and mother-in-law (Honey and Bill) and Fuzzy. Thanks to Neal she met her best friend Bess and other friends who awakened her spiritual journey and her drive for wisdom and knowledge. She also officially became a Miami Dolphins fan and went to most games with Bess during their best season ever.

Arlene and James spent the overwhelming majority of their Florida residency in the Southeastern Counties of Broward and Palm Beach Counties. However, they did spend a very happy, albeit, brief, period in the 1980s as residents of St. Petersburg, Florida. In St Petersburg Arlene again embraced nature feeding and caring for animals, blue herons, pelicans, dogs, Casper the cat, and others. She helped build the internationally acclaimed world’s largest sand sculpture on St. Pete Beach. She had her Christmas card design chosen for the City’s giant card display in downtown St. Petersburg. She loved music, dancing and singing. They hosted many family sleepovers and card parties in their welcoming Treasure Island home. She traveled extensively with Jim around the country especially her favorite Pacific Coast Highway. Her peace and serenity came through her spiritual community, weekly mass, the beauty of the trumpets at Easter at the cathedral and the Christmas votive candles of all her neighbors lining the bay behind her home.

Arlene and James completed their sixty-six married years in Boca Raton, Florida. Back in South Florida, she continued to engage her creativity and love of nature. She painted murals in Delray Beach urban communities, snorkeled Red Reef Park weekly, frequented Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, and celebrated life daily with her family and friends. She was a fun, engaged and encouraging grandmother to her growing family attending every function, trip, and celebration. There wasn’t a family gathering, event, road trip, festival or art show, or opportunity for adventure she wouldn’t do. And there wasn’t a sunset, moonrise or flowering tree she didn’t take time to admire. Her favorite singer Doug, at St. Joan of Arc, made her day with his soulful voice and upbeat Go Tell It On The Mountain genre of music. She spent every Mother’s Day at Butterfly World with her children, in-laws, and friends.

Arlene spent her last two and one-half years under the loving care of her daughter Karen, and her husband John Hoak, in Spring Hill, Florida. While these last years were physically difficult, Arlene continued to enjoy her card games and daily televised baseball games with her many friends and relatives. She especially enjoyed her attendance at one of the MLB playoff games for her beloved Tampa Bay Rays during the 2019 Season. She enjoyed watching her birds, squirrels, gardens, rides in John’s Miata and trips to Tarpon Springs and Bayport docks, dining and festivals. With the help of Karen and John, she even traveled by car to Blairsville to witness her beautiful granddaughter’s wedding.

Mrs. Arlene Devitt will be missed in more ways, and in more substantial measure, than can be adequately described within the limitations of this form of lifetime summary. She left family and friends an incredibly impressive and valuable legacy – a life comprised of many layers of love and wisdom. In so many ways, she did this, by simply living her life in a manner, which reflected an eagerness and excitement to pursue a full rich life of infinite spiritual and intellectual growth. Perhaps, we can begin to reveal some of this love through the wonderful “team” that Arlene and Jim presented in their combined expression of family devotion and commitment.

No one enjoyed and shared the bliss of God’s nature, the love of family and wisdom of life experiences and knowledge more than Arlene. We are supremely blessed to have had her as our Matriarch. As her four children, eight grandchildren, and 10 great grandchildren, we will always have the opportunity to share and practice the life lessons, which we each learned from our many combined years of individual relationships with this wonderful and complex woman – Our Mom.

A celebration of her life will be held 5-7pm July 8th at Babione-Kraeer Funeral Home, Boca Raton, FL and a Catholic Mass at St. Ambrose Church, in Deerfield Beach will be held on July 9th at 9:30 am.

Donations in her name can be made to Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, in Boca Raton. https://www.gumbolimbo.org/general-donations