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Obituary

Former Oldsmar civic leader dies at 98

Ella F. Campoli helped bring a wastewater treatment plant, which the mayor called "the lifesaver for the city of Oldsmar."

By RACHEL E.D. TUDOR
Published April 23, 2005

Ella F. Campoli, a former Oldsmar City Council member and civic activist who helped lay the foundation for the city's growth, died Thursday at a hospice in Flat Rock, N.C. She was 98.

Mrs. Campoli, a past president of the Oldsmar Chamber of Commerce, played a key role in the development of the Oldsmar Library, a teen center at what is now Bicentennial Park and the creation of the city's advanced wastewater treatment plant. In recognition of her efforts to see Oldsmar prosper, she was named Oldsmar's Citizen of the Year in 1980.

"She was a good friend to Oldsmar," Mayor Jerry Beverland said. "She had a sparkling personality. She was a fine woman with an old Southern style about her. She was always polite. She even dressed like a Southern aristocrat, but she was very down to earth, and always there to help."

Mrs. Campoli, who worked as an office manager for a furniture manufacturer, was born in New Castle, Pa., and came to Oldsmar in 1958 from Pontiac, Mich. In 1998, she moved to Hendersonville, N.C., and lived there the rest of her life.

Mrs. Campoli was on the Oldsmar City Council throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

"She cast one of the most exciting votes in the history of Oldsmar," Beverland said. "She cast the "yes' vote for the ... advanced wastewater treatment plant that ended up being the lifesaver for the city of Oldsmar" in the early 1970s.

In a 1993 interview with the Times, Mrs. Campoli recalled the meeting, during which one woman even hissed at her as the city clerk recorded the vote.

"Dear Lord, help me," Mrs. Campoli said she told herself before seconding a motion to approve the plant, which was designed to replace an ailing system that dumped raw sewage into Old Tampa Bay. "If I hadn't, we would be wollering in sewage."

For her leadership on that and other issues, the city gave her the City Council/City Manager Award in 1993.

"If that had been voted down, the city would not be what it is today," Beverland said.

In addition, Beverland said, Mrs. Campoli supported efforts that in 1976 brought a teen center to what is now Bicentennial Park and supported the Oldsmar Library.

She was the president of a professional business women's association called the Pilot Club. She was the past president of the Oldsmar Civic Club. She was an active bowler and a member of Espiritu Santo Catholic Church in Safety Harbor.

Mrs. Campoli's son, Jim Campoli, described her as "a very positive person all the time."

"I never heard anything negative come out of her mouth," he said. "All she wanted to do is to help others. She helped raise $8,000 to build the teen center."

Survivors include two sons, James A. Campoli, Oldsmar, and Robert Campoli, Jacksonville; a daughter, Dolores Wehr, Hendersonville, N.C.; nine grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren.

Prayer services will be at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Holloway Funeral Home, Oldsmar. The funeral Mass will be at 12:30 p.m. Monday at Espiritu Santo Catholic Church.

[Last modified April 23, 2005, 00:54:19]