Obituary for Fred Capron Coe
Fred Capron "Cape" Coe
August 8, 1922 - March 13,2021
Fred Capron “Cape” Coe went to be with the Lord on March 13, 2021 at 98 years old. He died peacefully, with his daughter by his side, in his apartment at Regency on Whidbey from complications resulting from a series of falls, but was in no pain. He lived a long, full life and is survived by his beloved long-time companion Arta Sandstrom, his daughter Gail Coe, and his son Alan Coe.
Capron was born August 8, 1922 in the tiny town of Ord, Nebraska, the youngest of three children born to Fred Coe and Hazel Capron Coe.
Capron was always industrious, working after school at the Co-op Creamery managed by his father, and summers working on the family ranch in Grand Junction, Colorado. He was an entrepreneur from a young age; following his high school graduation in 1940, he borrowed a small sum from his mother to open a fireworks stand for 4th of July and made enough profit to pay back the loan and finance his entire first year of college at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. He celebrated by firing off all his unsold stock, and a businessman was born!
At the age of 21 he enlisted in the Army Air Forces to fight WWII, and was sent to Europe first with the 5th Emergency Rescue Squadron, and then as a 2nd Lieutenant B-17 pilot, flying 10 combat missions over Germany, including the final massive bombing raid on Berlin in February 1945.
After the war he joined the Air Force Reserves while resuming his education at the University of
Colorado in Boulder, where he was president of his fraternity, Kappa Sigma, and graduated with a degree in Business.
He moved to Denver to learn the furniture business, which is where he met his future wife, Bernice Behrens from Manning Iowa, on a blind date set up by his best friend Dick Wicks. It was love at first sight, so a few weeks later when he was called up from the reserves to join the Korean War, they quickly married before his deployment, less than a month from that fateful first date!
Promoted to 1st Lieutenant with the 393rd Bombardment Squadron, flying B-17s and B-29s, he served in Europe in anticipation of Russia potentially entering the war.
Once back home in Denver in 1952, Cape and Bernice settled down and bought a home, set about starting a family. With help from the GI Bill, Capron got a loan to design and construct a building and open his own upscale interior design firm, Coe Interiors, which rode the post-war economic boom and was a big success. Cape had a private airplane which he would fly to the Chicago Furniture Market, New York Buyers Markets, and to visit the hotels and restaurants all over the Midwest that his firm would design and furnish. These were some of his most enjoyable years.
Starting a family took time, but finally after 10 years of marriage they welcomed their daughter Gail in 1960, followed by their son Alan in 1965.
Tragically, in 1968 after 17 years of marriage, Bernice died unexpectedly, leaving Capron to raise a 7-year-old and a 2-year-old. In short order, he closed his business, sold his house, gave up his beloved airplane so as to not risk orphaning his two young children, and started a completely new life in Washington, settling in Kirkland.
He tried his hand at real estate sales in order to have a flexible schedule for his children, but that didn’t seem to take. He ended up investing in and managing the Lynnwood Shopping Center for some years, and then started stock and commodities trading, which was something he enjoyed doing for the rest of his life.
Capron loved the Pacific Northwest, and he traded flying for boating, crabbing, and fishing. It was during this time that he discovered Whidbey Island, and would frequently come over with the kids to dig clams, collect driftwood, pick berries, and hunt mushrooms. As his kids got older, he bought a vintage wooden yacht from the 1920s, the Sea Brew (formerly owned by the proprietor of a Seattle brewery) and they spent weeks at a time during the summer exploring all the little towns, coves, and islands of Puget Sound.
Once Gail moved out on her own, Capron felt that the large school systems here were overwhelming his junior high school age son, so he decided to move to a tiny town that would more replicate the small-town experience for Alan that he himself had enjoyed growing up in Ord. The choice was Brookings, Oregon, located on a wild coastal beach full of sea life and surrounded by lily fields, almost at the California border.
In the same vein, he was tiring of the abstract nature of stock trading and wanted to do
something smaller and more tangible. At 57 Capron remarried, and once Alan moved out on his own, they moved to Palm Springs and designed and opened a frozen yogurt store on Palm Canyon Drive, Panda’s, which later became part of the Penguin’s franchise. Running the store was a lot of hard work, but it was just as satisfying as he had imagined, and he still found time for tennis and golf.
Flash forward a few years and that marriage hit an abrupt end. By this time Gail was living in Nice, France, so Capron, not sure what to do with himself at that point, took the extraordinary step at 77 years old, of moving to France as well!
Capron found a 350-year-old 2-story apartment in the medieval village, overlooking the
cathedral, and just steps from Gail’s place, the open-air markets, and the Mediterranean. He
joined a church in Monaco, and took up oil painting, gourmet cooking, more tennis, and learning
French, although at that age it didn’t really stick.
For his 80th birthday he went tandem hang-gliding for the first time. After all the years flying an airplane, he wanted to see what it was like to fly in silence, like a bird.
After 3 ½ years living in France, he made a trip back to see some friends on Whidbey Island, and his decision to return to the US was made. He settled in the Cam-Bey apartments in Coupeville, bought a car and his first computer, and volunteered across the street at Whidbey General Hospital.
His life took an amazing turn one day when he enrolled in a Senior Computing Class at the Bayview Senior Center and was lucky enough to sit next to Arta Sandstrom, who had been widowed some years earlier. Who would expect a love story in your eighties? But that’s exactly what happened. They lived together at Arta’s home on Holmes Harbor in Greenbank and they traveled widely in the US and abroad. One highlight of their travels was a private tour of the Bush White House, a thrill for Cape as a life-long Republican.
In 2010 Capron had a fall on the dock at the Coupeville Mussel Festival, and a series of complications dramatically diminished his eyesight, putting an abrupt end to the travel, golf, tennis, oil painting, and most painful of all, driving. A few years later, Capron and Arta moved into the cottages at Regency on Whidbey in Oak Harbor, where they lived independently while enjoying the supportive, active, senior community, making many new friends among residents and staff.
During all this time, despite his severely limited eyesight, Capron remarkably continued to trade stocks and options until the age of 97; his driving motivation was contributing to charities to help others. Due to his sight issues, the charity closest to his heart was International Vision Volunteers, who do cataract surgery for free in impoverished countries, allowing blind people to see again. He discovered this charity through his ophthalmologist in Coupeville, Dr. Mark Cichowski, an avid participant in these missions.
Capron was deeply religious all his life, and he had so many near-death experiences, both during the war and after, that he knew without a doubt that someone was looking out for him …and this was true all the way to the end. Capron and Arta each moved into the assisted living side of Regency just a short time before the pandemic hit, where they had the great fortune to be kept safe and have wonderful care throughout the pandemic.
Capron is survived by his extraordinary long-time companion Arta Sandstrom, who has so enriched his life these last two decades, by his devoted daughter Gail Coe in Nice, France, who follows in his footsteps by living a life of travel and adventure, and by his son Alan Coe in San Francisco, a tennis player just like his father.
No service will be held.
Contributions in Capron’s memory can be made to:
International Vision Volunteers
21C Orinda Way
PMB 179
Orinda CA 94563
August 8, 1922 - March 13,2021
Fred Capron “Cape” Coe went to be with the Lord on March 13, 2021 at 98 years old. He died peacefully, with his daughter by his side, in his apartment at Regency on Whidbey from complications resulting from a series of falls, but was in no pain. He lived a long, full life and is survived by his beloved long-time companion Arta Sandstrom, his daughter Gail Coe, and his son Alan Coe.
Capron was born August 8, 1922 in the tiny town of Ord, Nebraska, the youngest of three children born to Fred Coe and Hazel Capron Coe.
Capron was always industrious, working after school at the Co-op Creamery managed by his father, and summers working on the family ranch in Grand Junction, Colorado. He was an entrepreneur from a young age; following his high school graduation in 1940, he borrowed a small sum from his mother to open a fireworks stand for 4th of July and made enough profit to pay back the loan and finance his entire first year of college at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. He celebrated by firing off all his unsold stock, and a businessman was born!
At the age of 21 he enlisted in the Army Air Forces to fight WWII, and was sent to Europe first with the 5th Emergency Rescue Squadron, and then as a 2nd Lieutenant B-17 pilot, flying 10 combat missions over Germany, including the final massive bombing raid on Berlin in February 1945.
After the war he joined the Air Force Reserves while resuming his education at the University of
Colorado in Boulder, where he was president of his fraternity, Kappa Sigma, and graduated with a degree in Business.
He moved to Denver to learn the furniture business, which is where he met his future wife, Bernice Behrens from Manning Iowa, on a blind date set up by his best friend Dick Wicks. It was love at first sight, so a few weeks later when he was called up from the reserves to join the Korean War, they quickly married before his deployment, less than a month from that fateful first date!
Promoted to 1st Lieutenant with the 393rd Bombardment Squadron, flying B-17s and B-29s, he served in Europe in anticipation of Russia potentially entering the war.
Once back home in Denver in 1952, Cape and Bernice settled down and bought a home, set about starting a family. With help from the GI Bill, Capron got a loan to design and construct a building and open his own upscale interior design firm, Coe Interiors, which rode the post-war economic boom and was a big success. Cape had a private airplane which he would fly to the Chicago Furniture Market, New York Buyers Markets, and to visit the hotels and restaurants all over the Midwest that his firm would design and furnish. These were some of his most enjoyable years.
Starting a family took time, but finally after 10 years of marriage they welcomed their daughter Gail in 1960, followed by their son Alan in 1965.
Tragically, in 1968 after 17 years of marriage, Bernice died unexpectedly, leaving Capron to raise a 7-year-old and a 2-year-old. In short order, he closed his business, sold his house, gave up his beloved airplane so as to not risk orphaning his two young children, and started a completely new life in Washington, settling in Kirkland.
He tried his hand at real estate sales in order to have a flexible schedule for his children, but that didn’t seem to take. He ended up investing in and managing the Lynnwood Shopping Center for some years, and then started stock and commodities trading, which was something he enjoyed doing for the rest of his life.
Capron loved the Pacific Northwest, and he traded flying for boating, crabbing, and fishing. It was during this time that he discovered Whidbey Island, and would frequently come over with the kids to dig clams, collect driftwood, pick berries, and hunt mushrooms. As his kids got older, he bought a vintage wooden yacht from the 1920s, the Sea Brew (formerly owned by the proprietor of a Seattle brewery) and they spent weeks at a time during the summer exploring all the little towns, coves, and islands of Puget Sound.
Once Gail moved out on her own, Capron felt that the large school systems here were overwhelming his junior high school age son, so he decided to move to a tiny town that would more replicate the small-town experience for Alan that he himself had enjoyed growing up in Ord. The choice was Brookings, Oregon, located on a wild coastal beach full of sea life and surrounded by lily fields, almost at the California border.
In the same vein, he was tiring of the abstract nature of stock trading and wanted to do
something smaller and more tangible. At 57 Capron remarried, and once Alan moved out on his own, they moved to Palm Springs and designed and opened a frozen yogurt store on Palm Canyon Drive, Panda’s, which later became part of the Penguin’s franchise. Running the store was a lot of hard work, but it was just as satisfying as he had imagined, and he still found time for tennis and golf.
Flash forward a few years and that marriage hit an abrupt end. By this time Gail was living in Nice, France, so Capron, not sure what to do with himself at that point, took the extraordinary step at 77 years old, of moving to France as well!
Capron found a 350-year-old 2-story apartment in the medieval village, overlooking the
cathedral, and just steps from Gail’s place, the open-air markets, and the Mediterranean. He
joined a church in Monaco, and took up oil painting, gourmet cooking, more tennis, and learning
French, although at that age it didn’t really stick.
For his 80th birthday he went tandem hang-gliding for the first time. After all the years flying an airplane, he wanted to see what it was like to fly in silence, like a bird.
After 3 ½ years living in France, he made a trip back to see some friends on Whidbey Island, and his decision to return to the US was made. He settled in the Cam-Bey apartments in Coupeville, bought a car and his first computer, and volunteered across the street at Whidbey General Hospital.
His life took an amazing turn one day when he enrolled in a Senior Computing Class at the Bayview Senior Center and was lucky enough to sit next to Arta Sandstrom, who had been widowed some years earlier. Who would expect a love story in your eighties? But that’s exactly what happened. They lived together at Arta’s home on Holmes Harbor in Greenbank and they traveled widely in the US and abroad. One highlight of their travels was a private tour of the Bush White House, a thrill for Cape as a life-long Republican.
In 2010 Capron had a fall on the dock at the Coupeville Mussel Festival, and a series of complications dramatically diminished his eyesight, putting an abrupt end to the travel, golf, tennis, oil painting, and most painful of all, driving. A few years later, Capron and Arta moved into the cottages at Regency on Whidbey in Oak Harbor, where they lived independently while enjoying the supportive, active, senior community, making many new friends among residents and staff.
During all this time, despite his severely limited eyesight, Capron remarkably continued to trade stocks and options until the age of 97; his driving motivation was contributing to charities to help others. Due to his sight issues, the charity closest to his heart was International Vision Volunteers, who do cataract surgery for free in impoverished countries, allowing blind people to see again. He discovered this charity through his ophthalmologist in Coupeville, Dr. Mark Cichowski, an avid participant in these missions.
Capron was deeply religious all his life, and he had so many near-death experiences, both during the war and after, that he knew without a doubt that someone was looking out for him …and this was true all the way to the end. Capron and Arta each moved into the assisted living side of Regency just a short time before the pandemic hit, where they had the great fortune to be kept safe and have wonderful care throughout the pandemic.
Capron is survived by his extraordinary long-time companion Arta Sandstrom, who has so enriched his life these last two decades, by his devoted daughter Gail Coe in Nice, France, who follows in his footsteps by living a life of travel and adventure, and by his son Alan Coe in San Francisco, a tennis player just like his father.
No service will be held.
Contributions in Capron’s memory can be made to:
International Vision Volunteers
21C Orinda Way
PMB 179
Orinda CA 94563