JOHN CAPSTICK
Posted: 13 Jan 2018, 06:46
JOHN CAPSTICK
One of the problems with getting old is the fact that your friends start to drop off the perch and the longer you survive the worse it gets. I got word from Australia (the wonders of modern communication!) on Wednesday that my old friend John Capstick had died peacefully with his family at Lynne’s house on Friday the 22nd. He was 18 months older than me, 83 years old. This isn’t a proper obituary, John and I haven’t lived in each other’s pockets and so there is much I don’t know about his life. But what I am an expert on is the close connection between the Capstick family and the Grahams over the last 60 years.
My wife Vera went to school with Norma, John’s wife (who slipped away before John a few months ago….) and I first met John 60 years ago when I was working for Harrison Brothers and picked their milk up at Ash Tree Farm, Swinden Moor Head, where John farmed with his father Sid Capstick. I can still see them in my minds eye carrying a 12 Gallon kit of milk between them down to the stand on the roadside. I met Sid’s wife as well and it strikes me that I have known at least four generations of this family and quite possibly five!
Norma and her children were frequent visitors at Hey Farm, they lived in Barlick at the time. Our children grew up together and I got a message from John last year when he found out that our Janet had died, he was so upset. Of late my contacts with them have been occasional meetings in the town as they were doing the shopping but Ian Capstick lives opposite me in East Hill Street and the kids visit so the connection is still strong and I get all the news.
This isn’t the most exciting story you have ever read I know, many would see it as commonplace and nothing special but it’s more than that. It’s a very good example of the glue that holds our small town together. In one way or another we all share each other’s lives. As such it’s important and that’s why I wrote this, to mark the passing of a good man and to publicly recognise the family’s loss which is far greater than mine.
In sixty years I never had less than a smile and a friendly word from John and I have never heard a bad word about him. That’s not a bad record! My pic this week was done in 1978 at their silver wedding anniversary dance. I regret I haven’t one of him and Norma, they were both too busy attending to their guests! If you get an impression of a big, ruddy faced man who looks as though he enjoys life and a good laugh, I’ve done my job. That’s how I remember him and I treasure the memories. A good friend and I shall miss him.
John enjoying himself in 1978.
One of the problems with getting old is the fact that your friends start to drop off the perch and the longer you survive the worse it gets. I got word from Australia (the wonders of modern communication!) on Wednesday that my old friend John Capstick had died peacefully with his family at Lynne’s house on Friday the 22nd. He was 18 months older than me, 83 years old. This isn’t a proper obituary, John and I haven’t lived in each other’s pockets and so there is much I don’t know about his life. But what I am an expert on is the close connection between the Capstick family and the Grahams over the last 60 years.
My wife Vera went to school with Norma, John’s wife (who slipped away before John a few months ago….) and I first met John 60 years ago when I was working for Harrison Brothers and picked their milk up at Ash Tree Farm, Swinden Moor Head, where John farmed with his father Sid Capstick. I can still see them in my minds eye carrying a 12 Gallon kit of milk between them down to the stand on the roadside. I met Sid’s wife as well and it strikes me that I have known at least four generations of this family and quite possibly five!
Norma and her children were frequent visitors at Hey Farm, they lived in Barlick at the time. Our children grew up together and I got a message from John last year when he found out that our Janet had died, he was so upset. Of late my contacts with them have been occasional meetings in the town as they were doing the shopping but Ian Capstick lives opposite me in East Hill Street and the kids visit so the connection is still strong and I get all the news.
This isn’t the most exciting story you have ever read I know, many would see it as commonplace and nothing special but it’s more than that. It’s a very good example of the glue that holds our small town together. In one way or another we all share each other’s lives. As such it’s important and that’s why I wrote this, to mark the passing of a good man and to publicly recognise the family’s loss which is far greater than mine.
In sixty years I never had less than a smile and a friendly word from John and I have never heard a bad word about him. That’s not a bad record! My pic this week was done in 1978 at their silver wedding anniversary dance. I regret I haven’t one of him and Norma, they were both too busy attending to their guests! If you get an impression of a big, ruddy faced man who looks as though he enjoys life and a good laugh, I’ve done my job. That’s how I remember him and I treasure the memories. A good friend and I shall miss him.
John enjoying himself in 1978.