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| Bernice Capasso |
| September 02, 1919 - April 10, 2010 |
Ocala, Florida and formerly of Grinnell
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| Graveside Service: 11:00 a.m., Friday at April 16, 2010 at Hazelwood Cemetery |
Bernice was born Sept. 2, 1919, daughter of Berger and Mabel Stemsrud of Grinnell. She was the youngest of eight siblings, brothers, Lawrence, Bert, Arnie, and Clinton; sisters, Clara, Mildred, and Nel all preceded her in death.
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After graduating from Grinnell High School in 1937 with an emphasis in the commercial course she was a secretary for many years. From 1937 to 1941 she worked in Grinnell and Brooklyn, Iowa. On Dec. 6, 1941, she received a telegram to report to Washington, D.C., to work in the Pentagon secretarial pool. She continued in this work in Washington and Detroit, Mich., until 1943. From 1943 to 1945 she worked in the Chicago area. From 1952 to 1967 she worked as executive secretary to the Director of Research at Abbott Laboratories in North Chicago, Ill. She also worked for the State of Tennessee in Nashville in the 1970s. In Hendersonville, Tenn., she operated Bernie's Pizza for a number of years also in the 1970s.
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Bernice was married to Leslie Latz April 12, 1944, in Sioux Falls, S.D. Latz was a B17 radio operator in the 303rd Bomb Group, Eighth Army Air Force. He was shot down April 17, 1945, parachuted, was wounded and made POW. He was brought stateside in July 1945. Bernice and Les settled in Waukegan, Ill., and had one son, Jeff in July of 1946. Bernice and her family lived in Waukegan until 1967 then moving to the Nashville area and later to Florida.
She was divorced from Latz in 1986. In 1989 she married Ernest Capasso. Both preceded Bernice in death.
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She was a 60 year member of the Waukegan Order of Eastern Star, now the Milburn, Ill., Chapter. Bernice belonged to the sons of Norway Lodge, Minneapolis, Minn., for 35 years. She was a member of the American Contract Bridge League and the Ocala Duplicate Bridge Club, Ocala, Fla. Her Bridge partner for many years has been Archie Akam, Marion Oaks, Fla. In her last bridge tourney at the Ocala Club March 30, she and Akam placed first.
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Survivors are her son, Jeff and Susan (Everard) Latz, Leavenworth, Kan., and grandchildren Jeremy, construction engineer, and Karen (Latz) Ziegler, high school math teacher, both of Las Vegas, Nev., and Sgt. Andrew Latz, Korea, U.S. Army.
Bernice requested that any memorials should go to Dollars for Scholars at Grinnell High School, "Only to those who need it. I would have liked same but couldn't afford to because of the Depression!" Also, contributions to the American Cancer Society would be appreciated.
For those that knew her, Grinnell was always near to her heart. She always kept her mail subscription to The Grinnell-Herald Register active.
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