Rudy (Rodolfo) Colo

Rodolfo "Rudy" Colo, 85, of Crystal River, died on Wednesday, August 11, 2010, at the Crystal Health & Rehabilitation Center. Services will be held on Thursday, August 19 at the First Christian Church, 2299 Drew Street, Clearwater, FL. A visitation will be held at 10:00AM and will be followed by a Funeral Service. He will be interred at Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park following the service.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Rudy's name to the Salvation Army or your favorite charity.

Rudy (Rodolfo) Colo was the sixth child and fifth son in the Frank Colo family. Rudy was educated in the Lakeview School District in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, through high school. He was 18 years old when he joined the US Navy on November 16, 1943. He served with the Seabees, a Naval Construction Battalion as Carpenter’s Mate, third class, through April 29, 1946, when he was discharged. He saw action in the Philippine Islands and Guam, and was the First Army of Occupation in Nagoya, Japan. They brought troops and equipment into Japan and landed them with Last’s (Land Ship – Tanks).

After his discharge, he went into business with his brother, Al, and together, for several years they operated a gas and service station and an auto repair shop in St. Clair Shores, Michigan until they decided to sell the station.

Five years after his discharge, Rudy married a local girl, Sally (Virginia) Urquhart in 1948 at the first Presbyterian Church in St. Clair Shores.

Rudy learned to service televisions and to repair them, and did this work for several years. In addition to this work, he was very adept at cabinet making and building, and built his first home in St. Clair Shores in 1952.

After his mother and father sold the family home and retired to Florida, Rudy and Sally decided to see what Florida had to offer. In 1958 he started his business as a contractor, building homes and commercial buildings in Clearwater, Dunedin, Largo and Tarpon Springs, Florida. Sally created ceramics with an artistic flair, and as she helped Rudy decorate and furnish the model homes. She added ceramic dishes and other art objects as accent pieces to the décor.

Antiques were of great interest to Sally, and with Rudy, began going to estate sales and collecting antiques wherever she could. The collection grew large enough to open a shop for the public called the Old Homestead in Dunedin Florida. They successfully operated this business from 1978 to 1984.

They now spend their time between a home in Dunedin and a summer home in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Hendersonville NC purchased in 1986. When April arrives they leave for the mountains of North Carolina to escape the summer heat of Florida and return in November to enjoy the winter warmth of Florida.