Albert DeCubellis dies at 79

The following article appeared in the St. Petersburg Times on May 10, 2001.

By TAMARA LUSH

Albert DeCubellis, the son of one of Pasco County's founding families, died Monday night at Community Hospital. He was 79.

Mr. DeCubellis was born in 1921 on his family's farm east of Little Road. During his lifetime, Mr. DeCubellis saw Pasco County change from a place where a team of oxen provided his family's preferred method of transportation, to a busy suburb crisscrossed with paved roads - one of which was named after the DeCubellis family.

His parents, Peter and Frances DeCubellis, moved to New Port Richey in 1918 from Quebec because Frances suffered from bronchitis and Florida's climate agreed with her. They had 10 children.

"We were pioneers here," 89-year-old Isadore "Izzy" DeCubellis, Albert's oldest brother, said Wednesday. "We were a very aggressive bunch of farmers. All of us boys and girls spread out, and I guess we claimed most of this country here."

In a 1997 Times article, Albert DeCubellis recalled riding in his father's ox-drawn wagon into the town of New Port Richey. The family could not afford a car.

"The only ones who had cars were the rich people and the doctors," Mr. DeCubellis said. "We got up at 5 a.m. It would take about 1 1/2 to two hours to get into town, depending on the mood of the ox."

Mr. DeCubellis attended Gulf High School, and played on the school's football team. One of his teammates, former County Commissioner David "Hap" Clark, remembered Mr. DeCubellis fondly.

"He was a fine fellow," Clark said. "He was honest, didn't smoke, didn't drink and was a courteous, upright citizen."

Mr. DeCubellis graduated from Gulf High in 1940 and became a carpenter. He spent two years in the Coast Guard during World War II, then returned to Pasco. In 1947, Mr. DeCubellis enlisted again in the Coast Guard, and spent the next 18 years in the military. In 1949, he married Lucy Jones, and they had seven children.

His family lived in several places during Mr. DeCubellis' Coast Guard career, including Connecticut and Hawaii. In 1965, they returned home to New Port Richey, and Mr. DeCubellis retired from the Coast Guard.

He was a plant manager at Cypress Elementary School and at Ridgewood High School, and stayed there until the mid 1970s, his family said.

Mr. DeCubellis built a home across the street from his family's property. In the late 1980s, the family farm was bisected by a road stretching from Little Road to the River Ridge subdivision.

County officials named it DeCubellis Road.

In 1991, Mr. DeCubellis told a Times reporter that he had mixed emotions about the development of west Pasco.

"I've raised my family here; we've had a good life here. All the kids have built around here," he said. "I just wonder what all this traffic's going to bring."

Mr. DeCubellis is survived by his wife, Lucy; five sons, two daughters and 20 grandchildren. Three of his brothers and two sisters= also are still living in the area.

Services will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday at the North/Meadowlawn Funeral Home and cemetery, 4244 Madison St., New Port Richey.