Submitted by: Dan Rich
South Bend Tribune 4/1/1985
Henry Ferrettie
Henry Ferrettie, 63, St. Joseph County commissioner, died at 3:45 a.m. Sunday at St. Joseph Hospital in Mishawaka, apparently of a heart attack.
He was taken to the hospital Saturday afternoon from his home in Mishawaka, where he was recuperating from a Feb. 21 heart attack.
Mr. Ferrettie, of 316 W. 10th St., Mishawaka, was noted for his contributions to major public works in Mishawaka during his eight years as a Democratic commissioner from District 3 and for his enthusiasm in working for countywide and regional projects.
He joined current Commissioners Richard Larrison and Richard Jasinski in January 1977, bringing a spirit of cooperation, pride and enthusiasm to the office of commissioner, said Jasinski, D-District 2.
“He upgraded this office,” Jasinski said. “People started noticing commissioners and what they can do. During the eight-and-a-half years I worked with him, the projects kept coming in and we kept working on them. He always brought in the (County) council and even the mayors, and he always gave the credit to the other commissioners for their support.”
Larrison, a 13-year member of the commissioners board, said Mr. Ferrettie was an integral part of a tight-knit team of county executives.
“It’s hard to imagine this job without him,” Larrison said. “This was easily the best group I’ve ever worked with.”
In Tribune interviews, Mr. Ferrettie spoke with pride of his part in the construction of a Conrail grade separation at Church and Union streets, the establishment of a county services building in Mishawaka and the construction of a Capital Avenue bridge over the St. Joseph River, now in progress.
Besides serving eight years as a Democratic commissioner for the county’s 3rd Commissioners District, Mr. Ferrettie was instrumental in the continuation of passenger service o the Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad. He was a director of the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District until he resigned from that post recently on physician’s orders.
Mr. Ferrettie also was involved in regional issues as a member of the Kankekee River Basin board and as a vocal supporter of a regional solid-waste disposal system through the proposed establishment of an incinerator serving three or more counties.
Mr. Ferrettie’s election to the commissioners board in 1976 was his first successful candidacy for public office. It followed close losses in races for clerk-treasurer of Mishawaka in 1967 and for mayor of Mishawaka in 1971.
Before being elected to office, Mr. Ferrettie made a name for himself as a community leader in Mishawka and as a neighborhood leader on Mishawaka’s West Side, said Sam Mercantini, a close friend and political advisor.
Mercantini noted Mr. Ferrettie’s energetic involvement in the DeAmicis Club, of which he served as president, the Marian High Boosters Club and the Penn Twp. Men’s Democratic Club, of which he was a 39-year member at the time of his death.
“When he started campaigning, people felt his enthusiasm,” Mercantini said. “And his enthusiasm for helping people never left him. It didn’t make any difference if you were from his district or whether you were a Democrat or Republican. He’d go to bat for you, if he thought you had a valid problem.”
When Mr. Ferrettie returned from 38 months of military service in World War II, he and Vincent Moraschi took over the operation of the Moraschi-Ferrettie Grocery Store, across the street from his house at 307 W. 10th St. The store, a West Side landmark, was founded in 1918 by their fathers, Guido Ferrettie and Frank Moraschi.
In 1974, Mr. Ferrettie, then 55, sold the store to the DeAmicis Club and joined his former partner in retirement. In 1982, Mr. Ferrettie told the Tribune that dissatisfaction with the inactivity of retirement was a factor in his decision to re-enter politics in 1976.
Last week, Mr. Ferrettie was contemplating returning to work in two to three weeks, but on a more limited basis, colleagues said. During his recuperation, he had sent letters of resignations for most of the 11 appointed posts he held on local and regional governmental boards and on local economic development agencies, according to Jasinski.
Mr. Ferrettie’s replacement on the commissioners board will be elected in a meeting of 3rd District Democratic precinct men, said Casey Pajakowski, county Democratic chairman. The time and place for the meeting of 77 precinct men from Mishawaka, from Harris, Madison and Penn townships, and from parts of South Bend, will be announced sometime after funeral services, Pajakowski said.
The services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday in St. Joseph Church. Burial will be in Fairview Cemetery. Friends may call from 7 to 9 p.m. today and 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday in the Thallemer-Goethals Funeral Home in Mishawaka, where a wake service will be at 9 p.m. Tuesday. Memorials may be made to Sister Anne’s Special Education class at St. Bavo School.
Mr. Ferrettie was born July 12, 1921, in Mishawaka, and was a lifelong resident. His wife, the former Pauline Henderson, survives. Also surviving are two sons, John of Osceola and Thomas of Mishawaka; a daughter, Gloria Wentworth of Mishawaka; six grandchildren, and a brother, Arthur of Mishawaka.
Mr. Ferrettie earned three Battle Stars while serving in the Army’s 42nd Rainbow Division of the Army in World War II. He was an associate member of the BK Club, was a five-term president and 49-year member of the DeAmicis Club, was an associate member of FOP Lodge 91 and belonged to VFW Post 360 and American Legion Post 161.
He was past president and a 25-year member of the Mishawaka Retail Food Dealers Association and served on its board of directors for 22 years. During his 39 years of membership in the Penn Twp. Men’s Democratic Club, he served two years as president and two years as secretary.
He also served on the St. Joseph County Drainage board and on the board of directors for The Res in Mishawaka.