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Obituaries

Clients, friends remember real estate agent

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By SHANNON BEHNKEN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 23, 2009

Updated: 06/23/2009 04:35 pm

WEEKI WACHEE - Deborah Walker Bellet used real estate to touch others' lives, even as she lost her own.
Bellet, a real estate agent with Seaside Realty of Hernando Inc., closed her last sale from her hospice bed.

"I was amazed when she called," said her long-time client Jim Rossi, whose investment home she sold earlier this month. "This woman was amazing. She became my friend."

Bellet, 54, died June 18 after a year-long battle with cancer.

Bellet is survived by her husband of 10 years, Fred Bellet, a photojournalist at The Tampa Tribune; her sons, Jeremiah D. Vincent, 38, of Oak Ridge, Tenn.; Christopher R.C. Vincent, 31, of West Palm Beach, Fla; and her daughter, MacKenzie E. Shipe, 29, of Pine Island. She had nine grandchildren.

Bellet's family and friends described her as a strong personality who put her family first and worked relentlessly to close real estate deals. She specialized in waterfront property and was known as a go-to agent for clients looking for good deals in Hernando County.

Her broker at Seaside, Melody Merritt, said Bellet worked for her for about 10 years and was consistently among the top 25 producers in Hernando County. She also sold real estate in Pasco and Citrus counties.

"There were a couple of years when she was in the top three or four agents in the county," Merritt said.

Bellet grew up in Michigan and learned the ropes of real estate from her father who bought, sold and rented properties, said her sister, Claudette Siar, of St. Petersburg.

"She put together land contracts for him, and she learned the art of the deal from him," Siar said. "He taught her to treat people well. He once took two ponies for a down payment."

That background led her to speak out against mortgage fraud, which was rampant in Florida during the real estate boom. She wasn't afraid to turn down deals she deemed unethical.

"She wouldn't touch anything that didn't seem right, and she'd tell me when we were walking way," said Rossi, who bought and sold multiple properties with Bellet's help.

Bellet owned a nightclub in Michigan and moved to Florida in the late 1970s and became a real estate agent.

Her husband, Fred, said when he was introduced to her by friends over Thanksgiving dinner, there was an instant connection.

"She was everything I'm not," he said. "Everything I lack, she made up for. That made us the perfect couple."

Bellet was an environmental activist and loved living on Pine Island so she could be close to nature. Her last project was Living Green: an Earth Day Celebration. The event took place in April in Hernando Beach, and Bellet took pride in planning the whole thing, Merritt said.

Among her other accomplishments, Bellet published a cookbook, "Feast or Famine" and was a health care activist. She also was proud to have campaigned for President Barack Obama.

She moved into the HPH Hospice Center in mid-May and continued to work as much as possible. With her name on realty signs scattered across the county, her phone still rang with possible deals.

She wrote her own obituary and planned her own wake, one she wanted to be an Irish-style celebration at her home, which will be held tonight. She left specific instructions, such has the fresh white sand that her husband had delivered to the property.

Bellet's friend and fellow real estate agent, Teena Williams, said Bellet continued to think of others even while in hospice.

She asked that any donations made after her death go toward a walk-in hydrotherapy bath tub for the hospice center.

"She loved baths and said they made her feel better during her cancer therapy," Williams said. "There wasn't a bathtub in hospice. She wanted others to have a tub they could use."

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Hernando-Pasco Hospice Care Center, 12107 Majestic Blvd, Hudson, FL 34667.

Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804.

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