NORTH KINGSTOWN, Rhode Island — If Louis Ricciarelli Jr. wasn't working on the water, he was working on the house, his wife and children said Thursday in the living room of the dream house he finished building for her on Sunday. Deborah Ricciarelli said her husband, 56, who was found dead Tuesday still attached to his air line and tethered to the boat from which he made his living, laid the last patio paver and put up a birdhouse on Sunday. It was just before the neighbors came over for a "survival party" to celebrate their new neighborhood in Deer Brook, a housing development that is still under construction just south of the Rhode Island Veteran's Cemetery on Route 2 in Exeter. People would see him working in the yard, she said, and ask if he was the landscaper. "I am the homeowner," he would say with pride, according to his family. He had an infectious smile, would do anything for anybody and was everybody's buddy, they said. "All my friends, they always wanted to hang out with my dad," said Chelsea, 26. With grieving relatives coming and going, Deborah apologized for the mess, but it was magazine-ready from the front door to the back fence. He built the deck, patio and in-ground pool himself, she said. He wanted to put a shed at one end. "I made him stop so he could enjoy this for the rest of the summer … he could work on that in the fall." They went to URI at the same time but never met, she said, until after they graduated in 1977. He majored in microbiology and supported himself in college by diving for lobsters. Around her neck Thursday was a necklace, a clam inside a golden circle. "The clam is how everything started," she said. "He wanted to make his living off the ocean." He did. He believed the ocean belonged to everyone and he played a role in bringing aquaculture to Rhode Island. He established two oyster farms, off Wild Goose Point and Fox Island, which his daughter and son, Ross, who will be 24 next week, will continue. He named his boat the Chelsea Ann, after his daughter. Chelsea means "gift from the sea." He gave Deborah the clam necklace two years ago. "Last night, I put his wedding band" on the chain with it, she said. "I had 31 years with a wonderful, wonderful man," she said. "He really did make all my dreams come true." She worked nights and he worked days, and he missed her so much that even though they swore they would not replace their last dog, he adopted Rocco. | | Louis Ricciarelli, 56, died while diving off Quonset Point in Rhode Island. "Rocco is the only Chihuahua who goes to work every day with a fisherman," Chelsea said Thursday. The black-and-white dog lived in the pickup, which Lou had rigged so he could leave the doors open without running down the battery. Either in the driveway at home or parked between the Chelsea Ann and Gardner's Wharf Seafood market in Wickford, Rocco would wait for Lou, leaving only to sleep in the Ricciarelli's room. "The only reason the dog did not go out on the boat was Lou knew the dog would jump in after him," said Mike Banahan, a friend from the wharf who said the dock dog "received a lot of attention." Rocco waited in the open truck all day and all night Monday. After Lou's body was found Tuesday morning, Ross arrived at the wharf to drive Rocco home, where he waited in the driver's seat, barely able to lift his head or perk his ears. Deborah spoke to him in the driveway Thursday. "Are those ears up today? Okay, Rocco-man, I need you just as much as you need me." Funeral arrangements will be announced Saturday. A spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office said the cause of death was awaiting police documentation. The Environmental Police of the state Department of Environmental Management is conducting the investigation, which is continuing. by Donita Naylor
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