Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Obituary

His life in black and white

By MARTY CLEAR
Published June 8, 2007

Among the possessions Richard DelValle left behind when he died was a collection of newspaper clippings, mostly from his 26 years as a Tampa police officer.

One story told of Mr. DelValle receiving a citation for heroism when he ignored his own safety and stopped an armed man who was threatening innocent people.

Another one described Mr. DelValle apprehending a man who was gleefully pointing a loaded gun at people on Nebraska Avenue.

But Mr. DelValle was just as proud of the newspaper photo that showed him, his brother and friend standing with the 200-pound shark they caught in Tampa Bay.

For Mr. DelValle, a Seffner resident who died May 23 at age 74, being a police officer was his job for more than a quarter-century. He walked a beat in Ybor City and later became a vice detective.

"He liked it sometimes better than others, " said his daughter, Cindy Jackson. "It had its ups and downs."

But his passions were airplanes, the outdoors and his family.

"He was just a great dad, " Jackson said. "If anything was wrong, you went and talked to Papa and you felt better."

Jackson said she wasn't sure what led Mr. DelValle into police work in 1952. It might have been a protective streak that his family knew well.

"He had three daughters, and he was very protective, sometime too much so, " she said. "All of our husbands heard it: 'You'd better be good to my daughter.' "

Mr. DelValle was a lifelong area resident. He was born and raised in Palmetto Beach and worked in the nearby shipyards as a machinist, along with his father and brothers.

He enlisted in the Air Force during the Korean War. His military stint only lasted two years, but it engendered a passion for planes that would last the rest of his life.

He seldom piloted planes again after he left the Air Force, but with his brother Robert he loved to restore vintage aircraft, especially classic military planes.

"You know, the kind with the paintings of the ladies on the front, " his daughter said.

He met his wife, Elizabeth, the daughter of a Hillsborough County sheriff's deputy, during his rookie year on the police force. They lived in Palmetto Beach until the 1970s, but the lure of outdoor life finally drew Mr. DelValle and his family to the Plant City area, where he bought 10 acres and raised horses.

Mr. DelValle retired from police work in 1978, and then returned to work in the shipyards for another few years. He retired altogether in the 1980s. He and his wife moved to Seffner about that time to be closer to her mother.

He had been diagnosed with cancer, but his death caught his family by surprise.

"They didn't know how severe it was until they operated on him, and then they found out it was extremely severe, " Jackson said. "He had the surgery May 11. He only lasted 11 days after that."

In addition to his wife and daughter Cindy, Mr. DelValle is survived by daughters Cathy Wills and Christy DelValle, seven grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, three brothers and a sister.

[Last modified June 7, 2007, 07:26:55]