Alex A Deccio [Yakima Herald-Republic (WA)]

Affordable Funeral Care

October 28, 1921 to October 25, 2011

YAKIMA - Another of the The Greatest Generation has passed. Alex Deccio passed away October 25, 2011 after several years of declining health. He was 3 days short of his 90th birthday.

Alex life in many ways mirrored the lives of many of the World War II generation. Born to Louis and Josephine (Gugliemelli) Deccio in Walla Walla, Washington, they moved to Yakima, where in a family of seven, he grew up farming in the hard times of the Great Depression.

After graduation from East Valley High School, Alex enlisted in the U.S. Air Force as a private and quickly rose to the rank of Captain and finally earning the rank of Major. He served in Europe during WW II, participating in the Normandy invasion. At the end of the war, he returned to his beloved Yakima Valley, married Lucille Dexter, raised eight children, and started a successful insurance business, Hull, Miller Deccio.

A joiner as so many of his generation were, he belonged to and led a countless number of community and civic organizations, including, Trustee of Yakima Valley College, co-founder of Bi-Mart, Board of Regents of Gonzaga University, President of the Yakima Chamber of Commerce, Yakima Visitors and Convention Bureau, United Way, and served on the Board of Providence Hospital to name a few. In 1974 he was elected to the Washington State Legislature, where he served for the better part of 30-years and 4-years acting as Yakima County Commissioner.

A man with many friends on both sides of the political aisle, Alex worked tirelessly to promote both valley development and state health issues. Among his many legislative highlights, the Yakima SunDome, Fairground Headquarters, downtown improvement project, Omnibus AIDS bill, (the first of its kind in the country) and the Deccio Higher Education Center at Yakima Valley College. (Alex himself never attended college.)

After retiring from the Senate in 2007, he remained active in community affairs, meeting for coffee every morning with various community leaders and old friends advising others on campaigns and local issues.

Alex was a longtime member of Holy Family Catholic Church. His greatest source of enjoyment was being around family, especially the annual vacations on the Oregon Coast where as many as 50 family members would gather every August. This was a tradition for 60 years.

He is survived by his wife of 65 years Lucille, 5 daughters, Barbara, ( Richard) Ogle, Carol (Berry) Wright, Patricia, (Mike) Nettleton Teresa, (Steve) Kruschke, Catherine Chandler, and two sons, James and Richard Deccio, fifteen grand children and eleven great grand children. He was preceded in death by his daughter Janet, two sisters Vena and Mary, six brothers, Sam, Manny, Elmer, Joseph, Tony and Jim Deccio and a grandson, Berry Wright III.

Alex's passion was politics and his greatest satisfaction was in trying to improve the quality of life for the people of the Yakima Valley, the Yakima Valley he loved. A special thanks to the people of Yakima for their faith and support in his leadership over the years by electing him to public office nine times. Next to his family, public service was his greatest source of pride.

Viewing will be Wednesday, November 2, 2011, 3:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. at Holy Family Catholic Church, 5315 Tieton Drive, Yakima with the Vigil Service beginning at 6:00 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial is Thursday, November 3, 2011 at 11:00 a.m. at Holy Family Catholic Church. Private family interment will be in Calvary Cemetery.

Memorials may be made to the St. Jude Children's Research Center or to LaSalle High School, c/o Affordable Funeral Care, P.O. Box 9907, Yakima, WA 98909.

Arrangements by Affordable Funeral Care.