" To Remember and Understand"
Hartford, CT
ppirrott
Few people in Connecticut have done as much to preserve the Italian culture and history as this Hartford born, third generation son of immigrants!
Over a period stretching from 1967 ( 18 years old) until his death in 2005, Gennaro ( Jerry) would lecture Italian societies on the need to preserve the Italian parish of St Patrick & St. Anthony; on the need to build an Italian chapel on Franklin Avenue; he would start several newspapers in English and Italian; he started the Connecticut Italian Historical Society; he arranged to provide Italian language classes; he left a treasure trove of documents on Italian culture and history to the Connecticut Historical Society, documents that are available to the public to this day!
An undertaker by trade, he was known for his flair and "persistence"! He once chased two boys, who had thrown rocks at his car, over the 84 highway to Union Station and then wrote a letter to the Courant berating passersby who did nothing to help him capture the youths!
His business career was also controversial and he underwent a number of investigations and face a number of complaints.
But nothing could diminish Gennaro's love for that Italian culture, traditions, family and upbringing that he experienced on Front Street and that he tried so hard to preserve for future generations!
FUNERAL DIRECTOR CAPOBIANCO DIES AT 57
Gennaro Capobianco, a Hartford undertaker known for his high- profile approach to a traditionally low-key profession, died Thursday at St. Mary's Nursing Home. He was 57.
Capobianco began pursuing a career in the industry as a high school student in the city in 1968, when he sought a work-study placement at Sheehan Funeral Home in West Hartford.
Ten years later, he opened what is now Greater Hartford Funeral Services on Farmington Avenue, and quickly drew attention with Yellow Pages ads that proclaimed "Funerals need not be expensive." In an industry where price is spoken of in hushed tones, it was an uncommon approach.
Capobianco's conflicts with government officials periodically made headlines over the next 27 years. He clashed publicly with Hartford historians when he demolished a Washington Street home several years ago, and made headlines in 1999 when he petitioned President Clinton to intervene on behalf of a Bangladeshi family that was being refused admission to the United States to get the remains of a relative who'd died in Stamford.
But Capobianco was also known as a historian of the early Italian American community in Hartford.
"He was proud of his heritage, and he was probably one of the best resources for information about the first families of Italian American immigrants from the old East Side," said Michael Klett, president of the D'Esopo Funeral Chapel in Wethersfield. "He knew this from the stories passed down to him by his mother."
Capobianco was a resident of Albany Avenue in West Hartford. He was a member of St. Patrick-St. Anthony Church in Hartford.
IT WASN'T JUST A FUNERAL, IT WAS AN EVENT:
UBINAS, HELEN. Hartford Courant [Hartford, Conn] 04 Sep 2005: B1.
Michael, remember, high beams and flashers on," Gail Capobianco- LaPointe tells her friend.
"Please," she implores. "I don't want the man haunting me."
So you have Jerry's instructions, I say.
"Have them?" she replies, exasperated. "They're going to be the cause of the heart attack I plan to have right after this is over."
Years ago, Gennaro "Jerry" Capobianco gave me a copy of his 13- page obituary and funeral instructions -- and by the looks of things at his services Friday, the owner of Greater Hartford Funeral Services passed out a few extra copies.
"Oh good, he's wearing the shoes he wanted," one man said as he filed past the casket.
"And the tie," another said.
I hadn't thought about the arrangements Capobianco called a work in progress until I saw his condensed obituary in the paper the other day. And then I wondered how closely his funeral would resemble the plans he had so carefully crafted over the years.
Most people who knew Capobianco learned early on that he wasn't just a funeral director; he was a showman. His funerals weren't just gatherings to mourn the dead; they were events.
Joe Manco, who recently completed an internship with Capobianco, recalled how his boss would sit in the viewing room hours before mourners were scheduled to arrive, contemplating every detail. The picture of the deceased needed to be placed to the right of the casket. The flowers needed to be spread out. It didn't matter if the deceased was a well-known resident or an indigent who went unclaimed at the morgue; everything had to be perfect.
And his own funeral was no exception; he left nothing to chance. "Clothes not to be cut." "Light on the makeup ... " "Permission granted if face needs tissue building." "No Glasses!"
Besides the lengthy obit, which covered everything from the penmanship award he received in 1962 to the apostolic blessing from Pope Paul VI in 1976, there was a list of invitees that changed as they went in and out of favor. And detailed instructions for preparing his body, "with the best embalming fluid." And the menu for the post-funeral gathering: antipasto, Italian bread rolls, pasta fagioli soup, ziti with meatballs and sausage, soda, coffee and spumoni.
"Wine not included," he wrote, "but can be brought in." Gail spent three days scrubbing the walls of the funeral home, vacuuming the carpets, making sure everything was just so for her former brother-in-law's funeral.
She worked with Capobianco on and off for 10 years and even though he crossed her off his list after she remarried -- her husband died, what was she supposed to do? -- she took charge of the arrangements and followed his meticulous wishes as closely as she could -- give or take a few "sister-in-law liberties."
Some of those liberties, like the candelabra she lit during his wake Thursday, were in honor of the man she knew would have appreciated the special touch, the drama.
But most were unavoidable. Capobianco was sick for a while, and he hadn't updated his arrangements. That's why former Mayor George Athanson was still listed as one of the honorary pallbearers even though he died in 2000, and why Capobianco requested a mounted Hartford police officer in his procession when the department hasn't had a horse patrol for years.
And then to complicate things, he told different things to different people.
He told some people he wanted a mahogany casket. He told others bronze. Gail finally decided on bronze. "It's the best," she said.
Gail did arrange for the horse-drawn carriage, though it was led by just one brown horse instead of the two white ones Capobianco wanted. Twenty years ago, Capobianco sold the 19th century carriage to John Allegra, owner of Allegra Farms in East Haddam, for $500 and a promise that Allegra would make the carriage available for two funerals: one for Capobianco's grandmother 10 years ago, and his on Friday.
Capobianco would have gotten a real kick out of all the attention the carriage got as it led the line of mourners from the funeral home on Washington Street to St. Patrick-St. Anthony Church. He would have loved the glamour added by the driver Wes Nowsch, a member of the Governor's Horse Guard who played Morgan Freeman's driver in Amistad.
As I left the church, with Gail still tending to every detail, I asked a couple of the guys who worked with him what Capobianco would have thought.
"Oh, he would have complained about everything," said Paul Warren, the embalmer at the funeral home. "And that's why we loved the guy."
Gennaro "Jerry" Joseph Capobianco, 57, of Albany Ave. West Hartford, Thursday (August 25, 2005) at St. Marys Nursing Home. Born September 23, 1948, son of "Ada" Ida C. (Mazzaferra) Capobianco of West Hartford and the late Ciriaco (Jerry) Augustine Capobianco. He was the grandson of the late Gennaro and Cateria (Dileo) Capobianco, natives of the Frigento Prov of Avellino, Campania Italy and Guseppe and Maria (Fortunaty) Mazzafera, Natives of Mormanno, Prov. of Cosenza Calabria Italy. Mr Capobianco attended the former St. Anthony-St Patrick and St. Michaels School and was a graduate of Weaver High School of Hartford. He also attend Trinity College and Greater Hartford College both of Hartford, University of Connecticut of Storrs. He was the founder and owner of the Greater Hartford Funeral Services which was started at 598 Farmington Ave and then moved to 247 Washington Street both of Hartford. He lived in Hartford and East Hartford. He was a member of the St. Patrick- St. Anthony Church. He was a member of the Mt. Carmel-St Christina Hall, Societa Sani Antonio Feminile D: Hartford, American Society and many more. He was survived by his sister Donnalee (Capobianco) Sferrazza and her husband Calogero "Carl" of Enfield; a brother-in- law Kenneth Jardine of Manchester; three nieces Joanne (Capobianco) Miller of Norwalk . Catherine Ann (Capobianco) Luchini of Milford MA. Aurdra Roslyn-Faye Sferrazza of Enfield; three nephews Ronald Thomas Capobianco Jr. Ciriaco "Jerry" Gennaro Capobianco both of East Hartford. Alex Christine Sferrazza of Enfield; a great niece Jasmine Miller of Norwalk. Two great nephews Aaron, Taevon Miller both of Norwalk. Marternal Aunt Gloria A. (Mazzaferra) Capobianco of Wethersfield. Marternal Uncle Anthony C. Mazzaferra of Florida. Joseph Mazzaferra Jr. of Rocky Hill; four first cousins and their families Joseph Ravalese of Windsor, Patricia (Ravalese) Riccio of South Carolina, Thomas G. Capobianco of Wethersfield, Jeffrey J. Capobianco of Windsor and many other relatives in the greater Hartford area and many god-children. Calling hours 4-9 p.m. at his establishment, Greater Hartford Funeral Services, 247 Washington Street, Hartford, Friday 8 a.m. at the funeral home followed by funeral procession at 8:30 a.m. to St. Patrick-St. Anthony Church, on corner of Church and Ann Street Hartford for a Mass of Christian Burial, 10 a.m. Interment will be at Mount St. Benedict Cemetery Bloomfield.
MUSEUM RECEIVES HISTORY BONANZA ; GENERATIONS OF ITALIAN AMERICAN LIFE
Since he was a teenager, Gennaro J. Capobianco collected newspaper clippings, old photographs, record books of mutual aide and social societies, and other bits of information to document the history of Hartford's Italian American community.
Last week, about four decades after he began his efforts, Capobianco died, leaving boxes full of history to the Connecticut Historical Society Museum.
"One of the great things about Jerry Capobianco is that he doggedly went out into the community to find out who had this stuff," said David M. Kahn, executive director of the museum.
"Giving them to us was his way of keeping them together and keeping them preserved."
The Capobianco collection includes about 50 cubic feet of information: records from the Young Italian American Association; the constitution and bylaws of the St. Valentine's Social Club; century-old photographs of bocce and card games in Wallingford; and historic photographs of Hartford's now demolished Front Street and its Italian merchants.
There's also the wedding formalwear of Ferdinand DeSopa, an early 20th century community leader, Kahn said.
Capobianco began working with the museum in 1997 to figure out how to best safeguard his life's collection. The plan was to have the museum acquire the collection and then work with Capobianco to understand its contents, but Capobianco died before the task could be completed.
"This is just the very beginning," Kahn said. "Most of this stuff would have ended up in the trash can were it not for his interest in history. It's really a history of the community ... and it overshadows anything we've had in terms of Italian Americans in Hartford."
The museum plans to begin the long process of cataloging the collection in an effort to understand its history and make it available to researchers nationwide. A book highlighting the collection may result as well, Kahn said. Capobianco, an undertaker and owner of the Greater Hartford Funeral Service, died Aug. 25 at St. Mary's Nursing Home.
In 1967, he co-founded the Italian-American Historical Society of Greater Hartford and, not long afterward, was named managing editor of the bilingual Connecticut Italian Bulletin, which stopped publishing in 1980.
Hartford, CT
ppirrott