Funeral held for longtime Portland weatherman Jack Capell

10:02 AM PDT on Sunday, June 28, 2009

By Kgw.com Staff

Jack Capell spent nearly half a century in the living rooms of northwest Oregon and southwest Washington.

The longtime metro Portland meteorologist was remembered on Saturday at a funeral and memorial service in Seattle, where he lived in retirement.

As a WWII veteran, Capell received a full military funeral, his family said.


Video: Jack Capell Tribute

Video: Capell Tribute | Pt 2 | Pt 3 | Pt 4
Capell died on June 14, three days after he turned 86.

Capell was part of the original news team on KGW and served as the station's meteorologist for more than 40 years, even offering forecasts from his wheelchair in old age.

Capell retired from broadcasting in 2000.

One of his most enduring achievments in forecasting came when he predicted the historic Columbus Day storm of 1962. Capell phoned into the KGW newsroom from a weather bureau facility and warned of a "serious, serious storm" heading toward Portland.

As he drove toward the station's downtown studios, though, the weather looked "fine," he later recalled. But as he got closer, Capell saw a band of black clouds enveloping the city, and felt relief -- in a professional sense, he said.

Columbus Day Storm coverage

Capell was the only metro-area forecaster to accurately predict the storm's danger.

“Every day Jack Capell exhibited the qualities of dedication, humility, and bravery against every challenge. His contributions as a broadcaster and as a fine human being are legendary,” said Rod Gramer, KGW’s executive news director. “We will all miss him deeply.”


Wartime 'epiphany' lead to forecasting
Capell served in the U.S. Army's 4th Division during the D-Day invasion of Utah Beach in Normandy, France, in 1944.

It was a few days later in France, after days of grim warfare under bleak skies, that Capell had an epiphany while viewing an unusual break in the clouds.

"It was a mystic experience I had," he recalled. "It was just like going from hell to heaven. What a marvelous thing if I could just learn what makes all that magnificent beauty."

Capell was wounded once during fighting with Germans, catching fire when a shell hit a nearby can of gasoline.

He also shot down a German plane and was among the troops that liberated the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau.

In his book, "Surviving the Odds," he chronicled the day-to-day struggle of the soldier on the front.


A weatherman for weathermen

KGW Chief Meteorologist Matt Zaffino called Capell a "weatherman's weatherman."

"Even late in his career, Jack was incredibly passionate about the weather and his forecasts," recalls Zaffino.

Zaffino had another memory of Capell. He knew a Crater Lake tour boat operator before it fell under federal protection, and took advantage of the lake's looser rules back then.

"Jack is probably the only person ever to water ski on Crater Lake," Zaffino said.

Son John Capell also shared memories of his father.

“I think of the courage and the strength the character when you realize the last 40 years of your life, your body betrayed you, can't do what you want with your body and it doesn't get you down,” John Capell said.

“He gave me a lot of gifts -- integrity, courage, honesty -- those are gifts he gave without saying (or doing); he just gave by example,” John recalled.

Jack's family asked that condolences be sent to:

The Capell Family
5701 Seaview Ave. NW
Seattle, WA 98107

A Jack Capell memorial scholarship was set up for meteorology or weather sciences students. American Meteorological Society will administer the fund.

Donations can be made at any Wells Fargo Bank to the Jack Capell Memorial Fund.


look at this..
he died 3 days before his birthday

I will send my condolences