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Vincent Dante Capaccio died
at the Veteran's Home in Oxford New York
October 9th 2002. "I think my warrantee is about used up".
Vincent Dante Capaccio "Jim," born Nov. 29, 1907, in New York City, passed away Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2002, at the New York State Veteran's Home in Oxford. Jim grew up in New York City, Meriden, Connecticut and Philadelphia, Pa., with 12 brothers and sisters. He served in the Army for five years and one day. He was instrumental in forming the 7th General Hospital in Potters Bar, England, outside of London, during World War II. Jim worked there as an orthotist. Jim was always a golfer, even while in the service. Jim married Ruth Pearl Rickard of Walton on Jan. 11, 1942, "the day the wine froze," at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Walton. After the war he returned to Sidney. He attended Siena College and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting in 1951, while raising five children and working as a barber with Jerry Simonian in Latham during the week and at Sam's Barbershop in Sidney on weekends. After graduation he worked at Scintilla in the cost accounting department until he retired in 1972. He also worked as an encyclopedia salesman, a barber and an income tax preparer throughout his adult life. He was passionate about his golf and played with his golfing buddies in Sidney and Florida. Jim became a snow bird after Ruth's retirement and they spent many happy winters in Rotunda, Fla., with many new and cherished friends. He enjoyed traveling and visited his daughter, Mary Ann, in 1964, while she was in Germany, with her husband, Mike who was serving in the U.S. Army. He also visited his son, Tony while he was serving in the U.S. Army in Belgium in 1973. Jim was a longtime member of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Sidney and was actively involved in the Holy Name Society and Knights of Columbus. He is survived by his wife, Ruth; and all of his children and their spouses, Mary Ann and Mike Prucnal of Pasadena, Md., Vincent and Cindy Capaccio of Raphine, Va., Anthony and Helen Capaccio of Norwich, Alicia and Tom Pritchard of Hartwick, and Theresa and Robert Petrocelli of Pasadena, Md.; two sisters, Mary Koch of Springfield, Mass., and Alice Walecka of Orlando, Fla., 10 grandchildren; and 41/2 great-grandchildren. Jim lived in Hartwick with his wife, Ruth, and their daughter and son-in-law, Alicia and Tom Pritchard, for six years prior to his admission to the New York State Veterans' Home. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society, the state Veterans' Home Patient Fund or the charity of your choice. A Mass of Christian burial will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 11, 2002, at Sacred Heart Church in Sidney, with the Rev. Fr. Gordon, pastor officiating. Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. on Thursday at C.H. Landers Chapel, 21 Main St., Sidney. Burial will be in Walton Cemetery in Walton. Arrangements are by C.H. Landers Inc., 21 Main St., Sidney.
Dad's family circa 1950's possibility taken Easter morning after Mass. Note that the ladies are dressed and the men quickly removed their church clothes. Clockwise: Tony, Dad (always in the best chair), Vince, Mom holding Theresa, Mary Ann, and Alicia in the center. In the center of the picture is the phone table, all the rage for furniture at that time! Our kids and grandkids will see our entertainment centers in the same light with their TV's mounted directly to the wall.
I have the phone table next to my bed with the phone on it. It came in handy with all of the middle of the night phone calls I got when I was working. I think I have that swivel rocker too, it is down in the cellar. Tony
Grandpa, Vince, and Dad. I think this picture was taken at 222 Grove Ave. eridan, Conn. What little memory I have at this age leads me to believe that dad and I made a trip to Meridan without the rest of the family. It may have been that Grandma was dying. Mary Ann do you know what year she died, I can't really remember ever meeting her. I remember returning home, riding in the front seat and it was raining, the road was under construction, the windshield wipers couldn't keep up when it was raining and wouldn't remove the muddy road slime from the construction when it wasn't. We stopped often for coffee, maybe it was the coffee, or weather or the reason for the trip, but dad seemed out of sorts on the trip home.
Remembrances: Send them to me and I will get them on the web
Does anyone remember building the porch at 272? I remember riding to Unadilla to the gravel bank to load the trunk with gravel to mix with the cement. It seems to me the boys got to ride in the trunk with the gravel, at least at the site but I had to stay in the car! Does anyone else have memories of the gravel bank? You know who you are! I had the flagstones from the steps for the longest time. We used them at the B&B on the back deck as seats! Lisa
The purchase of 272 which Dad always had great plans for improving. Dad came home for lunch as normal, which was followed by some anxious conversations between mom and dad. "Vince you have to stay home we will be right back!", they said as they left. Now, I am not sure about this but I think I was home from school for lunch, and Mary Ann was not home as she was going downtown to school. In any case here I am in charge of 2 younger siblings, not the smartest thing my parents ever did. It seemed like forever before they returned, "it will be OK we couldn't get a 2 bedroom unit but we will be able to make this one work and it is in a good location." It didn't sink in what had happened until that evening when the family went to take a look at our new house. The tenants of unit 270 were very happy for us and opened their house for us to look at, quite different was the greeting from 272 where we were cursed for stealing their home. As I learned later the US government, who had built the project to house workers during WWII, had decided to sell the units to individual families. There was quite a lot of commotion at the rental/maintenance office the day the sale took place, do the renters have priority, do veterans have priority, does everyone pay the same price, do we need cash, is it on a first come basis? The price of the houses must have been very attractive as they were all bought up quickly, I think it took longer for the 4, 6 and 8 unit to sell. By the way, we sure could have used a 2 bedroom / 2 unit house as we were always short of room. More stories of 272 to come. Vince/p>
The First Dad Story which is more properly called My First Sports Car is a rather long love story written by Tony which deserves its own page!