Renetta Cade

1929 - 2025

Renetta M. Cade, 96, passed away peacefully 10 October 2025 in Fort Collins, Colorado. She was the wife of Thomas J. Cade, founder of the World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho. Renetta and Tom made Boise their home for 31 years until his death in 2019. She was a life-long supporter of her husband's raptor conservation work and passion for falconry, helping nurture captive raptors and his growing flock of graduate students, first at Syracuse University, then Cornell University, and finally in Boise with The Peregrine Fund. She raised their brood of five children while living in Manlius and Dryden, New York. Renetta provided love, support, and companionship for all her husband's adventures and misadventures involving falcons and other raptors. The presence of falcons in her living room and chickens thawing in the bathtub were common occurrences that never fazed her. Together the two of them travelled the world and Renetta often spent time with her husband at his falconry camps in eastern Idaho and New Mexico. She was an avid gardener as anyone who visited their homes in Dryden and Boise will remember her extensive vegetable and flower gardens.

Renetta was born in Zion, Illinois to O. Ray Bennewate and Rena Wedekind Bennewate. She spent her early childhood in Illinois before moving west to California along with her two sisters (Eloise and Marilynn) and brother (Kenneth). It was in Glendale, CA where a friend introduced her to her future husband, Tom Cade. Renetta attended Glendale College, pursuing a teaching degree. She spent several years waiting for Tom to finish at the University of Alaska before he returned to Glendale where they married in 1952.

She is survived by five children; Marla Cade (Tom Bussoletti), Brian Cade (Amy), Cheryl Albaugh, Tom Cade, and Drew Cade (Becky); eight grandchildren (Luke, Jessica (Thomas Fisher), Sam, Kurt (Mela), Quinn, Jason (Carolyn), Erin, and Daniel (Kayle)), and eight great grandchildren (Ella, Cade, Astrid, Madison, Taylor, Michael, Genivieve, and Aurelia). Renetta was extremely proud of her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren and she took great joy in learning about all their accomplishments and adventures. She spent the last six years of her life in Fort Collins, CO where she was near her son Brian and his family, who included her in holiday meals and celebrations. The entire Cade family is extremely grateful to the MacKenzie Place and Bristol Hospice staff who provided gracious, kind care to Renetta in the final years of her life.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Tom J. Cade, and grandson, Gene Bussoletti.

Memorial gifts may be made to The Peregrine Fund.