Joette Henry

Joette Enaise Henry, 95, of Scottsdale, Ariz., passed away peacefully June 3, 2025, in the company of her four devoted and adoring sons.
Born Feb. 7, 1930, in Bradford to Louis P. Onofrio and Colette Cantwell Onofrio, she was the youngest of the couple's three daughters.
As a young woman, she showed prodigious talent as a passionate student of ballet and dance. At the age of 17, Joette joined her sister Bonnie, and Bonnie's husband, Leon Andre, in the professional dance troupe of Andre, Andree, and Bonnie, "The Dancing Mannequins." On Joette's 18th birthday, they performed at the 6th Annual Dinner of the Radio Correspondents Association in Washington D.C., honoring the president of the United States. President Harry Truman personally congratulated Joette and her co-stars.
Between 1947 and 1952, Andre, Andree, and Bonnie delighted capacity audiences throughout the United States, throughout Europe, and on television.
The trio's unique and graceful dance act was performed at the Waldorf Astoria, at the Plaza, at the Copacabana, and at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. They performed at the Flamingo in Las Vegas, at Lake Tahoe, and, to acclaim, across the nation.
Andre, Andree, and Bonnie danced in the Latin Quarter in London, in Monte Carlo, and in Paris. Once described by a critic as "… one of the most distinctive, novel dance acts of the age …", the trio performed on the Ed Sullivan Show, on the Cavalcade of Stars, on the Kate Smith Show, and on NBC's Texaco Star Theatre hosted by Milton Berle - to mention only a few of the television programs on which they appeared.
Of Andre, Andree, and Bonnie, Robert W. Dana put it succinctly: " They have class." Of the act, another renowned critic opined: "Andre, Andree, and Bonnie … have received top billing from New York to Hollywood as the most famous dancing team in America."
As a show business performer, Joette was truly a world-class star.
After she retired from show business, Joette returned to Bradford and married Walter J. Henry, M.D., on June 27, 1957. Dr. Henry practiced obstetrics in Bradford for 33 years and was the Chief of OB-GYN at Bradford Hospital until his retirement in 1982 - when he and Joette moved to Scottsdale.
During their 25 years in Bradford, Joette and Walter raised four boys together - Greg, Walter, Stephen, and Peter. Joette was also a world-class star as a mother - providing years of love, comfort, and wisdom that, today, leave her boys humbly grateful. Joette combined her devotion to motherhood with a business savvy that made her husband and her sons immensely proud.
While caring for her husband and her children, Joette established an interior design partnership with Francis Silverstine known as Courant Interiors. Over their years in business, they built Courant from a fledgling enterprise into the premier interior design firm in the Bradford area - providing high-end clients, such as Forest Oil Corp., with services of acknowledged taste and distinction. After moving to Scottsdale in 1982, Joette opened Courant West Interiors and, for a time, continued her interior design career. She was an allied member of the American Society of Interior Designers.
Eleven years after moving to Scottsdale in 1982, Joette's husband, Walter, died July 28, 1993. Of him, Joette often said to her boys: "I never knew what love was until I met your father." They spent 36 wonderful, married years together. At the time of her death, Joette had lived in Scottsdale for 43 years.
Joette was a woman of many talents. She was a member of Mensa International. She was fluent in French and attended local clubs to promote the language. She was a patron, and a fan, of ballet and of the arts. Her sons - and not only her sons - say that she was one of the best cooks that they ever met.
Joette also had a great heart. She was a sponsor of many charitable causes. She was a patron of St. Bernard's Catholic Church in Bradford and of St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church in Scottsdale. She was a member of the SPCA and of the Humane Society of the United States. But, most of all, Joette Henry was a lady whose grace, whose kindness, and whose selflessness displayed the true power of a star. She was a gift from the Lord.
Joette was predeceased by her sisters, Mary Alice Hegman of Sarasota, Fla., who died April 21, 2010; and Bonnie Dettor of Fayetteville, N.Y., who died Oct. 6, 2018.
Joette is survived by her sons, Gregory A. Henry of Bradford, Walter J. (Beth) Henry Jr. of Avon Lake, Ohio, Stephen P. (Patti) Henry of Scottsdale, and Peter J. (Sandra) Henry of Franklin, Tenn.; four grandchildren, Lauren J. Henry of Scottsdale, Peter J. (Siboney) Henry of New York, Matthew J. Henry of Avon Lake, and Abigail G. Henry of Avon Lake; and her nephew William F. (Lisanne) Hegman Jr. of Huntington, Vt.
Memorial donations may be made to Hospice of the Valley.