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Vincent LaDelfa — beloved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and friend — passed away peacefully on March 26, 2026, at Bethesda Hospital in Boynton Beach, Florida. He was 91 years old. Born Vincenzo LaDelfa on December 7, 1934, in Valguarnera, Sicily, he was the son of Placido Salvatore LaDelfa and Guiseppa Oliveri. He lived a life of extraordinary grace, generosity, and quiet dignity — a life that touched everyone fortunate enough to know him.

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A Boy from Sicily
Vincent was raised in Valguarnera, a small hill town in the heart of Sicily, the third child in a family of six. His early childhood was filled with warmth, love, and the simple abundance of family life — gatherings rich with shared meals, laughter, and stories passed down through the generations. He loved nothing more, in later years, than to revisit those memories: the rhythms of small town life, and his beloved dog Bob, who followed him absolutely everywhere.

The Second World War brought hardships that would shape him for the rest of his life. The family lost everything. His father, Placido, was taken as a prisoner of war and sent to England, not to return for several years. There was little food and few comforts. Vincent witnessed the harsh realities of life at an age when most children know only play — but he was, from the very beginning, an overcomer.

When the war ended and his father returned home, life found its footing again. Vincent developed a keen interest in politics and carried ambitions of one day becoming a teacher. But life had a different path in store. When Vincent was twenty years old, the family made a bold and courageous decision: they would leave Sicily and seek a new life in America.

In 1955, approved for passage at nearly the last possible moment through the grace of a trusted family friend, Vincent stepped off a boat and into a brand new country. The family settled in Rochester, New York, where he began building the life of his dreams.

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A Life's Work
Vincent began his career in the barber's chair working alongside his uncle, Francis Oliveri, learning his craft with the same diligence and pride he brought to everything in his life. He went on to open his own shop in Rochester, and later Vincent's Hair Stylist in Florida, where he became a beloved fixture of his community — a man who cut hair with skill, genuine warmth, and an opinion always at the ready if you wanted one.

His first lessons in barbering came at the age of five, and his last haircut was given — fittingly, lovingly — to his great-grandchild Clark Vincent Rohrer, just five days before he passed. Eighty-seven years of a craft practiced with devotion, from the very beginning to the very end.

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The Love of His Life
The defining chapter of Vincent's life was his marriage to Gay Mary LaDelfa — his soulmate, his partner, and by every measure, his greatest blessing. They spent sixty-eight glorious years together, traveling the world, raising a beautiful family, and building a home in South Florida that overflowed with warmth, good food, music, and laughter.

Together they sailed the world on ocean liners — voted Classiest Couple on a Baltic Cruise — and made regular journeys back to Italy to visit family and the land that had shaped him. They danced together with effortless grace, tended their Delray Beach home with tremendous pride, and shared a love that was, by every measure, the real thing.

Those who attended the celebration of Poppy's 90th birthday and watched the slideshow of a lifetime of photographs saw it plainly: this was a storybook romance — rare, genuine, and beautiful from its first chapter to its last.

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Faith & Character
Vincent was a devoted and faithful member of St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church in Delray Beach, where he attended Mass every Saturday without fail — even in his later years, when his hearing made it difficult to follow the service. He went anyway. That was the kind of man he was.
He was a man of deep and quiet virtue — gracious, humble, diligent, honest, and profoundly content. He dressed in a suit for every occasion not out of vanity, but out of reverence. He gave generously — cars, cash, the sweater off his back — without calculation or expectation, on a barber's salary, and somehow there was always more. He closed his shop for months at a time to travel the world, trusting completely that God would provide. And He always did.

He cared for his Delray Beach home as a true steward — adding a new garage, a paver driveway, a pool deck, a fully renovated kitchen, and a Florida room where he and Gay spent long, peaceful South Florida evenings together. A man who had once had nothing took nothing for granted.
He was also a gifted musician. At every family gathering — every holiday, every birthday — Poppy would settle quietly into a corner and begin to play. Over the course of his life he became proficient in many instruments, among them guitar, mandolin, and piano. He played beautiful songs not for the room, but because the music simply lived in him. The room would always soften. Those melodies remain among the most cherished memories his family carries.

Vincent loved America with the bone-deep gratitude of a man who knew exactly what the alternative looked like. He had arrived with nothing and received everything. That gift was never lost on him.

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He Is Survived By
His beloved wife of 68 years, Gay Mary LaDelfa, of Delray Beach, Florida.

His son, Placido Dean LaDelfa, of Georgia; and his daughter, Joy LaDelfa Rohrer, and her husband Thomas Albert Rohrer.

His grandchildren: Deserae LaDelfa and Dean LaDelfa Jr. (children of Dean); and Ryan Thomas Rohrer and Nicolyn Joy Rohrer (children of Joy and Thomas).

His great-grandchild, Clark Vincent Rohrer, who received the last haircut from Poppy's hands, and whose name carries Vincent's forward into the future.

His siblings, Fina Gibbardo and Carmen LaDelfa, and their families.

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He Was Preceded in Death By
His parents, Placido Salvatore LaDelfa and Guiseppa Oliveri; his siblings, Phillippo LaDelfa, Paulina LaDelfa Scalici; brothers-in-law Fulvio Gibbardo and Rosario Scalici and sister-in-law Rosa LaDelfa; his son's spouse, Kathryn LaDelfa; and all the beloved family and friends who went before him and now await him.

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Services
A Visitation will be held on Monday, April 6, 2026 from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM with a 6:00 PM Scripture Service at Lorne & Sons Funeral Home, 745 NE 6th Avenue, Delray Beach, Florida 33483. A Funeral Mass will be held on Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at 10:30 AM at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, 840 George Bush Boulevard, Delray Beach, Florida 33483 with Entombment to follow at 12:15 PM at the Boynton Beach Mausoleum, 1611 South Seacrest Boulevard, Boynton Beach, Florida 33435.

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Vincent LaDelfa was a simple man — and in the very best sense of those words. He needed little because he had everything that mattered. He asked for nothing because he gave everything freely. He lived with grace, loved without condition, and left this world having kept every promise a good life makes.

Rest easy, Poppy. You wore it all with grace.
Until we meet again.