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STEVE THOMPSONHis wife, ill for several years, dies quietly at home. He refuses to leave her body to seek shelter from the storm.
SPRING HILL - Outside, gusts whirred and rain pelted down as Frances approached. Inside, Frank Tedone's wife died quietly.
The paramedics had gone; there was nothing they could do.
It was early Sunday afternoon, and the funeral home would not send anyone out in the storm. Even the sheriff's deputies waiting with Tedone were ordered to take shelter at River Ridge High School.
They asked Tedone to come along, but the 65-year-old refused. He wasn't going to leave Marie by herself.
"I've been living with the woman for 45 years," he said. "I can't take care of her now?"
So they were alone: Tedone, his wife's body, the wind, the memories.
The couple met in New York while Tedone worked in his family's grocery. Frank was 17. He stocked shelves and made deliveries for 10-cent tips. Marie, 9 months younger, would come shop with her mother.
After they graduated, Frank joined the Marines. He promised Marie when he got back, they would get married.
In 1959, they had a large, Catholic wedding.
He found work then as a butcher in a pharmaceutical plant. She raised three sons: Louis, Mark and Frank Jr.
They moved to Florida in 1977. Their sons grew up.
But Marie's health deteriorated. She had blood problems that led to liver problems. In 2000, she had a stroke.
In July they moved from their two-story home in Dunedin to a newly built one-story house in Spring Hill so that she wouldn't have to climb stairs. It was her dream house.
"When she came in, she was kissing all the walls."
She was weak after recent liver surgery.
As the storm approached Saturday, she felt weaker. He wanted to take her back to the hospital.
No, no, she said. Let's see what happens in the morning.
Sunday morning, she didn't want to get out of bed. She slept another hour, then another, as the wind howled outside.
"I didn't wake her up," he said. "I wish I would have."
Shortly after noon, the power went out. He went into the bedroom and found her still, her lips blue. He called her name, then shook her. He called 911, and began CPR.
Paramedics pronounced Marie C. Tedone dead at 1:20 p.m. She was 65. The ambulance left, buffetted by 50 mph gusts. A deputy called the medical examiner, then the funeral home. Neither would venture out. The deputy asked Tedone to come to a shelter.
"That's one thing I definitely did not want to do," Tedone said Wednesday, "was leave her here by herself."
He waited while his wife lay in bed under a sheet. Two other deputies returned later. His son and daughter-in-law also came.
They waited until about 9:30 p.m., when the funeral home came for the body. Tedone said Wednesday the authorities did all they could, considering the storm.
"I told them don't worry about it," he said. "She can stay in bed. She can stay here all night."
He and his sons will bury her Saturday.