Chester J. Cappucci

Rev. Chester J. Cappucci, OMI, 87, died on February 4, 2014, at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Residence in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, after a period of declining health. He was born in East Boston, Massachusetts, on June 25, 1926, a son of the late Joseph and Lucy (Rabasco) Cappucci and one of seven children. In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by a brother, Anthony Cappucci.
He was educated in East Boston through high school, then attended St. Henry's Preparatory School in Belleville, Illinois. He attended college in Pass Christian, Mississippi, and later studied moral and dogmatic theology at Weston College, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Fr. Cappucci entered the novitiate of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate on August 14, 1956, in Godfrey, Illinois. He professed his first vows there on August 15, 1957, and professed perpetual vows on September 8, 1960, in Pass Christian. On March 30, 1963, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Joseph Brunini in Pine Hills, Illinois.
His first assignment, from 1963 to 1967, was to King's House Retreat Center in Buffalo, Minnesota, where he was a member of the preaching team. From 1967 to 1980 he served as chaplain at the Minnesota Correctional Institution in Red Wing, Minnesota. He did parish ministry from 1980 until his retirement in 2001. He was pastor at St. John the Baptist Parish in Green Bay, Wisconsin; associate pastor at St. Casimir's in St. Paul, Minnesota; and pastor at St. Mary's of the Lake in Bailey's Harbor, Wisconsin. His final parish assignment brought him back to St. Casimir's as administrator until August, 2001. He retired to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Residence and remained there until his death.
In addition to his Oblate family, he is survived by a sister, Lucy Atkinson, and her husband, Glen; a sister, Angela Cambria, and her husband, Salvatore; and a brother, Robert Cappucci, and his wife, Rosalie; all of Medford, Massachusetts; also by a sister, Rita Vachon, and her husband, Albert, of Woburn, Massachusetts; and a brother, Joseph Cappucci, and his wife, Lucy, of Belmont, Massachusetts; and by many nieces and nephews. Fr. Cappucci was also loved and remembered by many people in the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin.