Barbara Mary Butta, active in community
Barbara “Barbs” Mary Butta, 66, passed away at her home in Rehoboth Beach Monday, April 15, 2024, after a courageous fight with cancer.
Barb grew up in a loving home in Baltimore, Md., in a neighborhood where she had many friends who played in the alley or on top field all day, and often late into the night. Eastwood was a wonderful place to grow up! She graduated from elementary school at Our Lady of Fatima and The Catholic High School in Baltimore in 1975. She then attended Potomac Horse Academy before jumping in a pickup truck with her friend, Gina, to cross the country to LA to start a career at AAA. She then moved to San Francsico, where she spent her formidable years during the start of the punk rock music scene of the 1980s. She easily made friends, which she still has today. After moving back to the East Coast, she settled into Alexandria, Va., and began her successful career in the information technology field and was one of a few subject matter experts that contractors sought out to support the United States Postal Service. In 2001 she finally settled into her home in Rehoboth Beach, where she became an active member of the community. She loved Rehoboth Beach, where she was often seen riding her Aprilia motorbike, often recklessly.
Barb had so many interests that it’s difficult to pick her favorite. It didn’t really matter what she did, she was the happiest when she was doing it with family and friends. Barb was known for her infectious smile, feisty personality, humor (“Woah, Woah, Woah,” if you know you know) and the ease at which she made new friends. She also held a special place in her heart for her many family pets (Francesca, Fresco, Harriet and Sassy, just to name a few), many of which she adopted or fostered, and then adopted. The Sandalwood community, where she lived in Rehoboth Beach, often saw her walking one of her cats on a leash or hollering “Mama Cat” in a way no one else has been able to replicate. Barb was very concerned about the future of her pets and has made a sizeable donation to Just Us Cat & Kitten Rescue in Rehoboth Beach to care for her cats after she passed.
Barb took part in many other activities and being very sentimental, still has many items that held great memories for her like her rollerblades from her time in California or the racquetball racket she held onto. More recently, she enjoyed tennis, golf, pickleball and being part of a women’s softball team. Never one to sit still for long, she was also surprisingly active in a Fantasy Football league and recently joined a local gambling club, for entertainment purposes only. She never wanted to miss out on an opportunity to meet new people.
While Barb was feisty, she was also very sentimental and a good friend. She paid close attention to her friends and family’s lives. She would probe to make sure all was well and would remind her family and friends of important dates. Birthdays were particularly important to her. She would remind you in advance and then would follow up to make sure you called or texted a loved one on their special day. And if you missed one of her special days, you can be sure you would sense it when you saw her later. She was a wonderful communicator and stayed in touch with distant family members in Europe or the older friends of a friend from Alexandria. They, in their 90s and in England, could expect a monthly Facetime call from her, just to stay in touch. She was also an amateur genealogist. She researched and traveled to Italy and the Czech Republic to gather as much information on her European heritage as possible. If you visited her recently, you would have been ushered to a wall in her dining room, where she had a collage of pictures of her Italian and Slavic family members going all the way back to her great-great-grandparents. She was so proud of the results of her research.
Finally, Barb was an avid photographer of wildlife, primarily in the backyard habitat she created. She would regularly be visited by many deer with their fawns, bucks with velvety antlers, fluffy fox, raccoons, pileated woodpeckers and many other native birds and an occasional skunk. If you were lucky enough to be on her monthly email, you were blessed to see the incredible pictures she took.
Barb was preceded in death by her parents, Sal and Gloria; and her older sister, Debbe. She is survived by her brother, Mitch; and aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, cousins, and many, many friends, which are too many to mention.
Barb was so grateful for the support she got during her long illness. She never complained and remained optimistic. Barb was convinced after she was told that the cancer was accelerating and hospice should be considered; she accepted it stoically, and she said she would rally and defeat the illness she was diagnosed with in 2016. She was blessed with an incredible spirit and strength that she shared. She has left her mark on so many people who will keep her memory alive for many years. RIP, Barbie, Barb, Babs, Lil Big Sis, Aunt Barbie, and Cuz!
A viewing will be held from 6 to 8 p.m., Friday, April 19, at Parsell Funeral Homes & Crematorium, Atkins-Lodge Chapel, 16961 Kings Hwy., Lewes, and again at 10 a.m., Saturday, April 20, followed by a Celebration of Life Service at 11 a.m.
All unable to attend the services are invited to join the service via livestream by visiting the following link: parsellfuneralhomes.com/obituaries/permalink/11357708/LTWebcast.
