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County's lone Wilma casualty died helping pal

He was at the home of friend last Friday helping to unload sandbags for the hurricane threat and suffered a heart attack.

TAMPA - John Corbitt died helping a friend prepare for Hurricane Wilma.

Corbitt's daughter says her father wouldn't have had it any other way.

"He always was willing to help people," said Danielle Corbitt, 21, the youngest of his seven children.

Corbitt, 66, died Friday of a heart attack that came as he unloaded sandbags at the N Grady Avenue home of friend Walt Turner. The Hillsborough Medical Examiner this week concluded Corbitt's death was one of 10 Florida deaths related to Hurricane Wilma, and the only one in Hillsborough County.

"We were so surprised," Danielle Corbitt said. "I never knew of him having any heart troubles."

As Corbitt's family made arrangements for his funeral service on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Jackson Funeral Home, 4605 N 34th St., they recalled his sunny disposition and his love for his grandchildren.

Danielle Corbitt last saw her father the Sunday before he died, when he came to visit her son Donnivin Smith, 2. She said John Corbitt always brought Donnivin juice and fruit for snacks, and the two loved to play outside together.

Corbitt was born and raised in Tampa. He graduated from Middleton High School and attended, but did not graduate from, Florida A&M University.

Before retiring, he worked for Tampa Electric and the city of Tampa parking department, according to his family.

Corbitt, divorced, lived with and cared for Sarah Pringley, an Alzheimer's sufferer who lived in a small home on Spruce Street near the Home Depot in Tampa, according to Danielle Corbitt.

She said her father liked to shop at the nearby Target and Wal-Mart, and he enjoyed movies and long walks. He passed the time reading his Bible. He was never too busy to take Danielle Corbitt's children to day care.

As Hurricane Wilma made its slow turn toward Florida last week, Corbitt brought sandbags to the home of his friend Turner, who taught a computer class at the senior center in Lincoln Gardens that Corbitt used to attend.

Corbitt started to feel ill after unloading the bags, so he laid down on Turner's couch, according to his youngest daughter. He began to feel better and got up to leave. He started throwing up, and he passed out.

Then he stopped breathing.

Three days later, Wilma hit South Florida.

Tampa got a cold, wet morning and a balmy, cloudless afternoon.

The sandbags weren't necessary.

Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at 813 226-3373 or svansickler@sptimes.com