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Obituary

A teacher with a taste for life

By MARTY CLEAR
Published June 22, 2007

As a boy, Tony Provenzano had to drop out of school in eighth grade to help support his family, who had a small farm in Ybor City.

"They were pretty much dirt poor, " said his daughter, Dena Oppenheim. "He had to push a cart around Ybor City selling the vegetables from the farm."

It may have been his shortage of formal education as a child, his daughter said, that gave Mr. Provenzano such a passion for learning. He was in his 30s when he returned to school and earned his high school diploma. He was over 40 when he earned a college degree and started a career as a math teacher in Tampa schools. He also taught adult education classes in the evenings.

"He was very proud that he was the first in his family to go to college, " his daughter said. "He had always wanted to be a teacher."

Mr. Provenzano died June 14, 2007, after about six months of declining health. He was 91.

He was born in Ybor, the son of Sicilian immigrants. He helped his family eke out a living on their farm until he joined the Army Air Forces during World War II.

He spent most of the war as a mess sergeant in England, where he honed his skills as a baker. When the war ended, he returned home to Tampa. He settled in Seminole Heights with his wife, Onelia, and their two daughters. He worked in local bakeries and even owned a bakery in Ybor City for a short time.

Mr. Provenzano became well-known locally for two specialties: cakes and cannoli.

"He made the most beautiful wedding cakes, " Oppenheim said. "The kind that were 5 feet tall. He was an artist. My birthday happened to be the same day as his, and I always had fabulous birthday cakes. We all did."

He mostly made his cannoli at home, but they were so special that a local newspaper wrote stories about them. He had developed a recipe that he refused to share with anyone but his family, and even a few days before his death, he warned Oppenheim not to give away the secret.

He was working hard at the bakery, but with encouragement from his first wife, Onelia, who was a teacher at Orange Grove Elementary School, he started going to school at night. He then went on to earn a degree from the University of Tampa.

About 1960, he left the bakery business behind and began his teaching career. He taught at Philip Shore Elementary and Adams Junior High School.

In the evenings, he taught cake decorating at Brewster Technical Center. He retired from teaching in the late 1970s.

Onelia Provenzano passed away in 1991. A few years later, Mr. Provenzano married Mary Ferlita. They lived together on the Pinellas beaches until his death.

Mr. Provenzano was in good health until November of last year when he was diagnosed with a heart condition that eventually led to his death.

He was known to the community as a master of the wedding cake and as a dedicated teacher. But his daughter remembered him most as a man with a passion for his family.

"He was very nurturing, " Oppenheim said. "We used to say that he and my mother had reversed their roles. She was the one who taught us how to paint a room, and he was the one who brought us soup when we were sick. My dad didn't play golf, he didn't play cards, he didn't drink, he wasn't a sports person. He loved opera and he loved to dance, even though he was a terrible dancer. He loved life, and he was a little bit bigger than life."

Besides his daughter Dena and his wife, Mr. Provenzano is survived by his daughter Celeste Kirkland, stepson Michael LaBarbera and two grandsons.

[Last modified June 21, 2007, 07:29:31]