So sad..Please morn the loss of this great guy 
Dianne is in alot of pain during this ordeal. Pray for them if you can.
Frank Veltri, the former mayor of Plantation and one of several politicians who pioneered the new communities of west Broward, died late Thursday. He was 94. Plantation's mayor for 24 years, a former City Council member and fire chief, Mr. Veltri died at his home, said his daughter, Diane Veltri Bendekovic. 'He said, `I want to pass away in the house your mother and I built,'' she said.
Mr. Veltri saw the city through a flurry of growth, including the construction of the Broward Mall, as well as the building of the Plantation Historical Museum, the Fountains Shopping Mall and the Fashion Mall at Plantation.
Elected to the city council in 1969, Mr. Veltri held the strong-mayor's post longer than any other city politician, from 1975 to 1999.
'He wasn't just a pioneer, but he was Mr. Plantation,' said Emerson Allsworth, a lawyer and neighbor of Mr. Veltri since 1962. Born in Nashville, Tenn., in April 1912, his parents were Italian immigrants who came to the United States in 1907. As a young man, he learned to fly airplanes and trained pilots for the British Royal Air Force during World War II at an airfield near Lake Okeechobee and Clewiston. That's where he met his wife, who taught school in the area. Mr. Veltri married Genevieve Veltri in March 1943 in Pahokee, and they moved to Miami in 1945 and then Plantation in 1955.
Mrs. Veltri, a founder of the Plantation Historical Society and key contributor to other community groups, passed away in 2004. Mr. Veltri's early career in Broward County was spent as executive vice president and treasurer of the First Federal Savings and Loan Association, at the time a major financial institution. The agency encouraged him to be active in the fledgling city west of downtown Fort Lauderdale, an area ripe for home loans. In 1957, the Plantation Volunteer Fire Department was formed with 21 volunteers -- including Mr. Veltri. In 1960, he became the city's third fire chief. The department is one of the few volunteer fire services to still operate in Broward. 'Even though he was known as mayor for 24 years, the title he cherished and the one he was the most proud of was fire chief,' his daughter said. 'My dad wasn't one to attend gala affairs. He was more comfortable in the garage with the mechanics talking shop. My dad said he was blessed tenfold.' He was an avid tennis player, and the courts at the sprawling Central Park recreation complex carry his name. 'What I enjoyed most about Mayor Veltri is how genuine he was,' said Pam Lietzke, who had been Mr. Veltri's personal secretary at City Hall. 'When he asked folks how they were, they knew he was really interested, it wasn't just a social nicety.'
He was also frugal, she said. On her first day of work, she said, the mayor gave her an aging, dog-eared folder to store his mail. She tried to replace it. 'He said, `What's this?' I told him that the other folder had seen better days. That thing was 5, 6 years old. He said there's nothing wrong with that folder, get it back and we'll use it some more.' To save taxpayer money, scrap paper would be recycled as notepads, an office practice that his successor, Mayor Rae Carole Armstrong, uses today. Cobb recalled Mr. Veltri waited for the dollar to go up in value before allowing the city to purchase a specialty fire truck from overseas.
'That's the way he was,' she said.
He used 15-year-old campaign signs, and in a 1983 re-election campaign, he passed out literature from his 1979 race, except the older date had been scratched out in ballpoint and the newer date penned in. For years, Mr. Veltri marched in the city's homespun Fourth of July parade wearing red, white and blue shoes among dignitaries in convertible automobiles, simple floats on trailers and the town's high school marching bands.
At the annual volunteer fire department picnic, he served as the featured cook, trotting out his ballyhooed secret barbecue sauce. He kept the recipe locked in a safe in his home. Because of his declining health, Mr. Veltri hadn't been the featured cook for a few years. The sauce is still served by trusted department firefighters who have vowed to keep the recipe secret. Still, Mr. Veltri made a brief showing at the barbecue, just to say hello. 'He cared about all the right things,' said Fire Chief Robert Pudney. 'He cared about people first.'He won the mayor's post in 1975 with 43 percent of the vote in a five-way race. That year, the town's population reached 40,200.
Mr. Veltri said he stepped down from office because of Genevieve's health. The city 'has been a major part of our lives,' he told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in 1999. 'It has been a good part of the lives of our children.
We have a lot to be thankful for.' That year, the city's population had grown to 77,000 people. 'I hope they can keep it a family-oriented community,' he told the Sun-Sentinel that year. Besides his daughter, Mr. Veltri is survived by two other children, Stephen Veltri and Deanne Veltri Noles; six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. A funeral Mass will be at noon Dec. 11 at St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church, 200 N. University Drive, Plantation.
There will be a private family interment service at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Plantation Volunteer Fire Association. T.M. Ralph Funeral Homes is in charge of arrangements.
Please pay your respects *PRAY*, I will be there with the family.
God Bless
Brian
Dianne is in alot of pain during this ordeal. Pray for them if you can.Frank Veltri, the former mayor of Plantation and one of several politicians who pioneered the new communities of west Broward, died late Thursday. He was 94. Plantation's mayor for 24 years, a former City Council member and fire chief, Mr. Veltri died at his home, said his daughter, Diane Veltri Bendekovic. 'He said, `I want to pass away in the house your mother and I built,'' she said.
Mr. Veltri saw the city through a flurry of growth, including the construction of the Broward Mall, as well as the building of the Plantation Historical Museum, the Fountains Shopping Mall and the Fashion Mall at Plantation.
Elected to the city council in 1969, Mr. Veltri held the strong-mayor's post longer than any other city politician, from 1975 to 1999.
'He wasn't just a pioneer, but he was Mr. Plantation,' said Emerson Allsworth, a lawyer and neighbor of Mr. Veltri since 1962. Born in Nashville, Tenn., in April 1912, his parents were Italian immigrants who came to the United States in 1907. As a young man, he learned to fly airplanes and trained pilots for the British Royal Air Force during World War II at an airfield near Lake Okeechobee and Clewiston. That's where he met his wife, who taught school in the area. Mr. Veltri married Genevieve Veltri in March 1943 in Pahokee, and they moved to Miami in 1945 and then Plantation in 1955.
Mrs. Veltri, a founder of the Plantation Historical Society and key contributor to other community groups, passed away in 2004. Mr. Veltri's early career in Broward County was spent as executive vice president and treasurer of the First Federal Savings and Loan Association, at the time a major financial institution. The agency encouraged him to be active in the fledgling city west of downtown Fort Lauderdale, an area ripe for home loans. In 1957, the Plantation Volunteer Fire Department was formed with 21 volunteers -- including Mr. Veltri. In 1960, he became the city's third fire chief. The department is one of the few volunteer fire services to still operate in Broward. 'Even though he was known as mayor for 24 years, the title he cherished and the one he was the most proud of was fire chief,' his daughter said. 'My dad wasn't one to attend gala affairs. He was more comfortable in the garage with the mechanics talking shop. My dad said he was blessed tenfold.' He was an avid tennis player, and the courts at the sprawling Central Park recreation complex carry his name. 'What I enjoyed most about Mayor Veltri is how genuine he was,' said Pam Lietzke, who had been Mr. Veltri's personal secretary at City Hall. 'When he asked folks how they were, they knew he was really interested, it wasn't just a social nicety.'
He was also frugal, she said. On her first day of work, she said, the mayor gave her an aging, dog-eared folder to store his mail. She tried to replace it. 'He said, `What's this?' I told him that the other folder had seen better days. That thing was 5, 6 years old. He said there's nothing wrong with that folder, get it back and we'll use it some more.' To save taxpayer money, scrap paper would be recycled as notepads, an office practice that his successor, Mayor Rae Carole Armstrong, uses today. Cobb recalled Mr. Veltri waited for the dollar to go up in value before allowing the city to purchase a specialty fire truck from overseas.
'That's the way he was,' she said.
He used 15-year-old campaign signs, and in a 1983 re-election campaign, he passed out literature from his 1979 race, except the older date had been scratched out in ballpoint and the newer date penned in. For years, Mr. Veltri marched in the city's homespun Fourth of July parade wearing red, white and blue shoes among dignitaries in convertible automobiles, simple floats on trailers and the town's high school marching bands.
At the annual volunteer fire department picnic, he served as the featured cook, trotting out his ballyhooed secret barbecue sauce. He kept the recipe locked in a safe in his home. Because of his declining health, Mr. Veltri hadn't been the featured cook for a few years. The sauce is still served by trusted department firefighters who have vowed to keep the recipe secret. Still, Mr. Veltri made a brief showing at the barbecue, just to say hello. 'He cared about all the right things,' said Fire Chief Robert Pudney. 'He cared about people first.'He won the mayor's post in 1975 with 43 percent of the vote in a five-way race. That year, the town's population reached 40,200.
Mr. Veltri said he stepped down from office because of Genevieve's health. The city 'has been a major part of our lives,' he told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in 1999. 'It has been a good part of the lives of our children.
We have a lot to be thankful for.' That year, the city's population had grown to 77,000 people. 'I hope they can keep it a family-oriented community,' he told the Sun-Sentinel that year. Besides his daughter, Mr. Veltri is survived by two other children, Stephen Veltri and Deanne Veltri Noles; six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. A funeral Mass will be at noon Dec. 11 at St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church, 200 N. University Drive, Plantation.
There will be a private family interment service at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Plantation Volunteer Fire Association. T.M. Ralph Funeral Homes is in charge of arrangements.
Please pay your respects *PRAY*, I will be there with the family.
God Bless
Brian