Roger Capilos

Roger Capilos
1948 - 2024

Roger James Capilos, 76, died peacefully at home, with his family by his side, on Monday, December 2nd, after a prolonged fight with cancer. He was born on April 15th, 1948, in Middletown, CT, the only child of James and Barbara (Davis) Capilos. Roger grew up in Cromwell, CT, and graduated from Cromwell High School in 1966, where he played on the soccer, basketball, and track teams, sang in the chorus, played trumpet in the band, and was also active in theater and Student Council.

After attending NYU, he worked as a substitute teacher in New York City, and then drove a taxi for eight years. After moving to San Francisco, where he met his wife Blanche, he operated Light Rail Vehicles and Municipal Buses for the City by the Bay for thirty-one years.

Roger is survived by his beloved wife Blanche (Whipple) Capilos, daughters Rachel and her husband Marcus Marcic of CA, and Barbara Capilos of Japan; and grandchildren Isaac and Ava Marcic. He also leaves his cousins Tighe Davis, Margaret (Davis) Colella, Jack, Dennis, and Rob Bradley, and Stacie (Bradley) Lally, Blanche Capilos, Irene (Roman) Yang, and David Rondeau. Roger also leaves many childhood friends who he's kept in touch with, as well as his co-workers in San Francisco.

He was a poet, philosopher, and fiercely loyal friend. Roger, you will be missed by all of us who knew you! "Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."



Information sent by Roger in 2008



Roger and Blanche Capilos live in San Francisco, CA.

"Blanche Capilos from the class of 66 is my first cousin. I introduced myself to Blanche Whipple in 1973 while vacationing in San Francisco by saying 'my best friend is named Blanche.' I married that absolutely wonderful young woman from San Francisco and we have been together 32 years. Now our children have children and I see my whole life changed because I walked into a restaurant one day to have breakfast."



Barbara (15 yrs), Rachel (30 yrs), granddaughter Ava Anastisia (almost 3), and Blanche.

"My daughter Rachel is a SFFD firefighter. Her husband Marcus works for the Municipal Railway as have I for the last 23 years. My wife Blanche was a fashion model for 12 years but retired in 1992 to be a house mom for our second daughter Barbara, 15. Barbara will be a h.s. sophomore this fall. My wife Blanche was a runway model in NYC, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Milan. My grandson Isaac just turned 9.

After a little school teaching, I drove a taxi for 9 years in New York City and have operated buses, street cars, cable cars and electric trolleys for the city of San francisco."

September 12, 2008

Hey Sue,

I think it has been a year since I wrote to the alumni site. Last April I brought my wife and youngest daughter ( Barbara 18 ) from San Fran to visit NYC. We had a great trip. Took subways everywhere and walked all over the city. We shopped on Canal St. ( a blast ) and visited the Museum of Natural History.

In homage to Jerry Seinfeld we went into a bakery on Madison Ave and ordered a chocolate bobka and the counter girl said they were out but had cinnamon!. Barbara and I almost applauded so in the spirit of the moment we switched to 2 black and white cookies.

We saw 2 shows on Broadway; a pretty tired production of the Phantom and than a blow the roof off the theater showing of Wicked. When we walked in for Wicked I noticed the announcement that the understudy would be performing the lead role. Darn.Well she turned in a jaw dropping, standing ovation performance and we left the theater barely touching the sidewalk.

We stayed out late and ate hotdogs at Greys Papaya. The next day we hit midtown and worked our way back towards the Village. Barbara went back to our hotel to rest and my wife and I kept walking looking for souvenirs. I needed a place to sit down and I saw a Crate and Barrel at the end of the block. I started heading for the entrance and who do I see reaching the door the same time as me but James Gandolfini. ( Tony Soprano) I didn't want to call him Tony and I was blocking out the James so I opened the door and said " man I am missing you and the show so much. " He gave me eye contact and said thankyou. I was cool with that. Its weird when you meet a celebrity you actually care about. You'd like to believe you said the right thing. One time when I was cab driving in NYC I got John Belushi and an entourage of 5 guys who were all fawning over him and trying to outdo one another. When they climbed out of the car I called to Belushi and said "John, thanks for the laughs." He came back and reached in and just shook my hand. I still think about that because he was dead within about 6 months. Really you probably wouldn't want to wish that celebrity curse on your worst enemy.

So New York was awesome and than you go home and get back to work and enjoy the memories. My job has changed alot because most all of my best buds have retired and I still have 2 to 5 years to go. I am working hard at learning to watch what I say when I am driving my bus routes because the scene has changed and for the first time in 30 years San Francisco can feel dangerous to me. So many lost souls packing weapons that the only way to respond is to assume everyone is armed but you. That just seems to be the way it us. Too bad.

Along with the great NYC trip was our 5th horse roundup with the Frontier Pack Train company of June Lake Ca. Check them out on line. What a wonderful escape.

Of course each year has its hardships. My father James Anargyros Capilos died last August. He and his brother George used to run the Fountain Restaurant In Rocky Hill in the early 1950's. I will include a picture or two in the future and would love to hear any memories of that place from folks who were teens in the 50's because I get the idea Dads diner was the local hangout.We lost our dog Meelo a few weeks before Dad got sick so for a good nine months we all fought a battle with the void of pure loss. Meelo shared our house for 15 years and I've always said God had his best day by far when he created the dog. We have wrestled with the idea of getting another but the sound of 3 heads bumping together isn't pleasant. My daughter would love a small aussie sheep dog, my wife would probably want a clone of Meelo and I always thought I'd be fine with a pug. For now we are pet free. We just stop and love other peoples dogs.

With my job I have tons of time to just daydream and one thing I like to do is make lists. Favorite actors, vacations, fighters, restaurants, kisses, books, roads etc. This is my most recent top 10 movies list:
Best wishes to all and thank you so much to Sue for the living history. I enjoyed the pictures of the 63 reunion, especially Victor Carta who looked like he is the same swaggering entertainer he was a lifetime ago. --Roger.

p.s. the photos are me and my wife in a NYC subway station,


my wife and daughter standing outside a lower Manhattan firehouse ( why does my wife always look like she is about to slap the handcuffs on someone? )


and me and my grandson Isaac Marcic.



( information as of Sept 2008)