Richard 'Riccardo' Capella
Published: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 8:22 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 8:22 p.m.
Everyone who knew Richard “Riccardo” Capella knew he was a hard worker.
It may have stemmed from his youth, when he was asked to leave his family in Switzerland and came to America. He arrived after a rough trip across the Atlantic and started working on a family member's dairy farm in Novato.
“The days were early, and the days were long,” said his wife of 53 years, Suzanne Capella of Petaluma.
Riccardo Capella died at his home on Sept. 17 after a lengthy battle with oral cancer. He was 77.
Capella's father was in the United States rebuilding after the 1906 earthquake. At age 40, he returned to his native Switzerland, got married and raised eight children there.
In 1949, his father's cousin, Fred Corda, and his wife traveled to Europe and visited the Capella family.
“He said, ‘Which one of your sons wants to come to America?' and Riccardo was volunteered,” Suzanne Capella said.
After an exhausting journey aboard the Queen Mary, Capella arrived in October 1950 to a cold East Coast.
“He said if he'd have had the money, he would have gone back,” Suzanne Capella said. “He had the bottom bunk, and the top bunk was throwing up the whole time.”
After working for eight years on the Cordas' dairy, Capella went to work for his in-laws, the Mazzolenis, to work at the historic Yosemite Hotel on Washington Street in Petaluma.
He used carpentry skills he learned from his father and his experience working at the dairy to become a self-employed carpenter for 25 years in Sonoma County.
In 1984 he retired after a back injury and the family divided their time between Petaluma and South Lake Tahoe, where Capella supervised the building of their Chalet-style home.
He said the Tahoe mountains reminded him of his childhood in Switzerland.
In addition to his wife of 53 years, Capella is survived by a brother, Jacamino, and three sisters, Gloria Volonte, Elvezia Mettraux, and Marilena Zimmerman, all of Switzerland; three sons, Richard in Los Angeles, Gregory in Virginia and Mark in Petaluma; eight grandchildren; two step-grandchildren.
Capella was a member of the Swiss Club of Petaluma, the Corda Hunting Club and the Parents and Friends of St. Vincent de Paul High School in Petaluma, where he enjoyed watching his sons play football.
He was also a member of St. Theresa Church in South Lake Tahoe and St. Vincent de Paul Church in Petaluma.
Service times were pending.
The family requests memorial donations to the football program at St. Vincent de Paul, P.O. Box 517, Petaluma, 94953, or the American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 22718, Oklahoma City, Ok. 73123-1718.
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