Anne Barbara Capiola
Anne Barbara Capiola, 102, passed away peacefully Tuesday, December 4, 2018.
Anne, or “Babs” as her many friends called her, lived an active and full life. She had many interests and hobbies and pursued them all with her lifelong interest in learning.
Babs was captain of her Canonsburg women’s bowling league for many years, an organizer of her neighborhood’s bridge parties, as well as an experienced classic green thumb gardener.
Each year, her flower and vegetable gardens grew more lush, and her love and care of birds, animals and the many cats and dogs she loved dearly and raised over the years were all part of her wonderful spirit.
She loved to decorate, sew and learn new skills. She was an avid reader and was a passionate believer in education, always taking her children to museums, historic sites, art galleries, et al, and impressing on them the value of having a curious mind and being a lifelong learner, as she herself was.
Babs only slowed down slightly in her 95th year, and would always ask her daughter, after seeing pictures her daughter took of her, who the “old woman” in the picture was, insisting it was certainly not her!
She was born Anne Barbara Popovich in 1916, in Arcadia, to a large family of seven brothers, now deceased, and lived in the “infamous” Philly Patch area of Canonsburg during her teen years.
In 1938, she married Alex John Capiola, who died in 2002. Together, they raised their three children in North Strabane Township.
Her surviving children are son Richard A. Capiola of Huntington Beach, Calif. and daughter Catt Berlin George (Daniel O. George) of McMurray. A. Robert Capiola (Janet) of Morgantown, W.Va., is recently deceased. Her grandchildren are Rob Capiola (Simchah), Jennifer Caldwell (Todd), Andrea Capiola and Todd Capiola and she also had five great-grandchildren.