Thomas A. Cappello, 76, of Warren, PA, died Friday, April 28, 2017, at his home following an apparent heart attack.
Born on August 6, 1940 in Warren, PA, he was the son of the late John L. and Josephine Juliano Cappello.
Tom grew up in Kane, PA, and was a 1958 graduate of Kane High School. He was employed for 39 years as a crane operator with the former National Forge Company, retiring in 2003. He was also a school bus driver in Warren County for 28 years. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard during the Vietnam era and was a member of Warren American Legion Post 135. In his younger years, Tom attended St. Callistus R. C. Church in Kane and in his adult years attended St. Joseph R.C. Church in Warren. Tom was a master rail fan and model train enthusiast. He was a member of several area model railroad clubs and enjoyed chasing trains.
Tom is survived by his 2 children – Donna Cappello-Warren and husband Ray, and Tommy Cappello and wife Gina, all of Warren, PA; 6 grandchildren – Dana and Blake Bailey, Paul and Matt Cappello, and Melissa and Andrew Haight, all of Warren, PA; 4 great grandsons, all of Warren, PA; 2 brothers – Angelo (Bud) Cappello of Plant City, FL, and Jack Cappello and wife Bobbie, of Kane, PA; 3 sisters – Judy Grolemund and husband Bill, of Pittsfield, PA, Nancy Wernicki of Plant City, FL, and Kathy Elinski and husband, Jim, of Wilcox, PA; and many nieces and nephews. In addition to his parents, Tom was preceded in death by a brother – Daniel P. Cappello, brother-in-law Mike Wernicki, and sister-in-law Carole Cappello.
Friends may call at the Donald E. Lewis Funeral Home, Inc., 304 East Street, Warren, PA, on Wednesday, May 3, 2017, from 2-4P.M. and 6-8P.M. A Mass of Christian Burial will be conducted at 10:00A.M., Thursday at St. Joseph R.C. Church, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue West, Warren, PA, with Fr. Richard Tomasone, Pastor, officiating. Interment will follow in St. Callistus Cemetery, Kane, PA. Those wishing to place a memorial may do so through the Sheffield Depot Preservation Society, Center Street, Sheffield, PA, 16347, or to Paws Along The River, 212 Elm Street, Warren, PA, 16365, or to the Warren Public Library, 205 Market Street, Warren, PA, 16365. E-mail condolences may be sent by visiting www.lewisfuneralhomeinc.com
Sorry for the loss of your father and grandfather. He was a great man
To the family of Thomas. I have known Thomas For many years and have never known someone with a bigger heart.Tom was always willing to help anyone. My thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time. God Bless You all.
Tommy and Donna and everyone; I am so sorry. You are in my thoughts. You father was truly an original and one of a kind.
To the entire Cappello family. I am so sorry for your loss! I finally had the chance to meet Tom. He was a great Man. Always said Hello to Vicki and I. I told Tom I had this 1949 Lionel Train set and could he fix it. Fix it he did. I will never forget Tom and every time I run this train, it will be because of him! RIP Tom and God Bless!
Sorry for your Loss. Tom just worked on my Trains that I gave to my Granddaughter last Christmas. They had sat in the attic for years and years and Tom made the needed repairs and got them running like new again. My Dad was killed in a Car Train accident in Kane, Pa and as it turned out Tom at 10 Years old was an eye witness to the accedent. He even had a picture of Dad’s wrecked car. I spent years (I’m 67 now) Looking for info on just what happened as my Mom never told me much about the accident. It was great talking to someone that had the newspaper articles and actually saw the accident happen. It answered so many unanswered questions for me. Said that he is gone!
So sorry to hear of Tom’s passing. We just spoke on the phone a couple weeks ago. I had sent Tom videos of my layouts and he found someone to reformat them so he could watch them. I promised I would stop to see him next time I came up to Oil City from North Carolina and we would go to that Italian restaurant down the street. I so enjoyed chatting with Tom about trains. A huge loss for all of his family & friends.
I can hardly believe it. I had just visited Tom five days earlier. He called me and invited me over. When I arrived, he was outside, and the train was running, so we sat on the bench to talk while watching it.
From the time I first met Tom after moving to Warren a few years ago, he was always gracious and welcoming. I was impressed by the wide range of his activities, and his enthusiasm was infectious.
I shall miss Tom greatly, and my heart goes out to his family.
We all miss him at The Crossing where he stopped by almost every Sunday to listen to the musicians and read his National Geographic.
A great friend and rail fan! Will be greatly missed
Fare well for now, my good, compassionate, true friend, Tom. May the Great Dispatcher, the Good Lord, set and keep all your signals to green.
Donna, Tommy and families, so sorry for your loss. Hope the great memories help with this difficult time.
When I read the news of Tom’s passing in the WTO online, I could not believe it…he was such a part of the landscape of life in Warren, in our great neighborhood of the west end, as well as in the life of so many of us kids when we hit jr. high and high school as our bus driver! What a great person with such a kind spirit–he put up with a lot on that school bus, but he was always great to all of us, always patient, even treating us at holiday times to a candy cane or candy at Halloween and always getting us where we needed to be safely. Sending my deepest sympathies to Donna and Tommy and to your entire families. Wishing you comfort in the love and presence of friends, and in great memories of good times spent with your Dad. He will be missed!
I don’t know if this helps but Tom and I talked at length on many subjects. We solved a lot of the worlds problems but only we knew it.
Death was one of those subjects. We came to the conclusion that to die in your sleep was okay. To die in doing something was okay too. Although his wish to die watching his trains do the final lap didn’t happen,take this into mind that to die in a nursing home was the worst way we could think of going. I know this is sudden and heart wrenching but try to understand it didn’t happen in a way he didn’t want it to happen. Rejoice for he is with his lord now.
As you know we go way back. 36 years ago I gave him a Lionel train because I knew it would be taken care of and he was the guy to do it. I so enjoyed taking Connor to see the trains and talk to your dad. And keep edging him into giving me his Coke stuff. Or to run into him at various venues. As with you guys and everyone else he touched,there was never going to be enough time spent with him. He was a great man with good intentions and oh so proud of his children. And you should consider yourselves lucky to have called him DAD!
So sorry for our loss. Tom was a friend and worked on my son’s trains and was a friend to my husband Steve. He will be missed and fondly remembered. Roberta Ainsworth
Still in shock, just talked to him last week. great guy, loved seeing at the Polka dances at the Legion. So sorry for your loss.
Tom and I ran into each other at Perkins, and one of the last times he managed to get me a copy of some very rare and historic train videos I’d been looking for for years, and then stopped by the office later just to revisit train stories and talk about the industry and all the changes – just a couple weeks ago. He was always fond of reminding me I’d stepped in front of his video camera on one of his best shots of the “Northern Express” run through Warren in 2001.
Anytime I ran into Tom, it would be fun and both of us would be laughing before we knew it. I also worked with him at Forge, and fondly remember him setting up Lionel and Ives at the Warren Public Library on the Christmas walks – with all that stuff actually running you could hardly shout above the roar!
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