Marna "June" Capels

Marna "June" Capels, 86, of Syracuse, passed away August 20, 2017 at St. Joseph's Hospital with her four loving daughters beside her. She began her life in Elmhurst, Queens, NY until the age of 18 when the family moved to Syracuse. There she met Frederick James Capels and they married in 1953. Over the next several years, the household grew to six with the addition of four daughters.

Mom was very involved in many organizations. With the love of horses and many years of horseback riding, she volunteered for Astride, a therapeutic horse riding program for the disabled, American Red Cross, as her parents did, was a Girl Scout leader and taught watercolor painting to the residents at St. Camillus Nursing Home. Mom painted for many years and belonged to the Bradford Art Group and Camillus Art Association. Much of her works were on display in various libraries, art shows and other locations and received many ribbons at the New York State Fair. Mom had a great sense of adventure. She traveled to many vacation destinations with the entire family and once traveled coast to coast for seven weeks with just us girls pulling a pop up trailer. That took a lot of guts. In 1992, Mom traveled to Israel for a month, visiting the historical sites with relatives. When you couldn't reach her at home she was more than likely out delivering Avon orders or with her friends enjoying activities like bowling, roller skating, ice skating, walking a folks march, watching horse races on TV, picnics, playing cards or going to the movies. Mom was a dear and loyal friend to so many, you know who you are. Mom sold Avon for 63 years until last October, but Mom's greatest joy was her love of dance. Mom began studying ballet in her teens and continued for many years and later in life, including jazz and modern dance. She enjoyed so many years of country-western dancing and had a vast collection of cowboy boots to go with her outfits. What fun she had. Mom didn't stop there, she was one of the co-founders of the Erie Canal Cloggers and performed many times at various competitions around the country, including performances at the New York State Fair. KEEP ON DANCING MOM!

Marna was predeceased by her father, Arnold Smidt, in 1973; mother, Jutta (Gumpert) Smidt, in 1990; and husband of 35 years, Jim Capels, in 1988.

Surviving are her daughters, Leslie (Alex) Kravec, Lori (Walter Paluch) Capels and Jody (Steve) Boehm, all of Syracuse and Valerie (Brian Shupe) Capels of Waitsfield, VT; grandchildren, Shannon Dickinson, Brian Boehm, Jonathan Boehm and Jordyn Kravec; great-grandchild, Brayden Boehm; brother, Oliver (Mady) Smidt of Scottsdale, AZ; sister-in-law, Linda Cane of Caldwell, NJ; nephew, Eric (Nava) Smidt and their children; and niece, Abigail (Todd Carroll) Cane and their child.

Calling hours will be Saturday, September 9 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Buranich Funeral Home, 5431 W. Genesee St., Camillus.

Burial will be at the convenience of the family in Onondaga Valley Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Marna's name may be made to Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund of CNY, P.O. Box 356, Camillus, NY 13031 or to one's favorite charity.