Karen A. Cappiello

She was born Karen Anne Erbe on March 25th, 1955 in Rockville Center, N.Y. She grew up on Long Island with her parents Arthur and Alberta and her two brothers, David and Peter. She got her first part-time job at the A&P Supermarket located in Port Jefferson Station at the age of 16 where she later met her future husband Vic. She attended Murphy Jr. High School in Stony Brook and later graduated from Ward Melville High School in 1973. Karen started college but left it after a year. Karen went back to working for the A&P part-time, this time as a bookkeeper. This store was located in Hauppauge. Karen and Vic were married on Oct 17th, 1976. On August 15th, 1977, Vic received a birthday card from Karen. It was signed "Karen and the baby". That's how Vic learned that he would be a father in less than eight months. Their daughter Samantha was born April 3rd,1978. Karen took to motherhood immediately. She and Samantha did all of the "mother/daughter" stuff together and both blossomed. They were inseparable. Although life was good, money was tight. To bring in more money, Karen also started working part-time as a "typesetter" for the local newspaper known as the Three Village Herald. In 1986, Karen and family moved to Florida so that she could be near her parents. Soon she started working full-time as a "typesetter" for Mechanical Art Graphics located in Winter Park. One day, one of the clients approached Karen and told her that he was opening his own company. He wanted Karen to work for him. It took a few business meetings but Karen agreed and was hired as Graphics Artist Manager. The new firm was called Dolphin Business Forms. With the job came a huge increase in salary. Karen worked there from 1991 to 2000. In 1994, Karen and Vic welcomed their son Jesse into their family. Again, Karen took to motherhood immediately, just as she had done with Samantha. Life was good and Karen was very happy. Karen went back to work after Jesse was three months old. She couldn't stand to be away from him. Both Karen's and Vic's jobs were located on Route 441, five minutes from the nursery where Jesse stayed during the day. They both spent their lunch hours at the nursery. Waiting the whole day to see Jesse was out of the question. The lunch visits with Jesse didn't last long because Karen left Dolphin that same year to work for Palm Springs Printing located in Altamonte Springs as a Graphic Designer. She worked there until 2004. After immediately leaving Palm Springs Printing, Karen took a job as a Graphic Designer at LaBerge Printers, Inc. which was located in Orlando. With the advent of Commercial Websites, firms no longer required the services of the Ad Agencies that Karen had worked for. Firms were downsizing and going out of business. Karen lost her job in 2009, and with it the hope of finding another in a dying industry. Karen decided that she would become a CNA (certified nursing assistant) and help people. She took the required courses and received her certification. She immediately found a job with Age Advantage Home Services located in Winter Park. After some years, Karen was offered a position in the office. She took it. Her title was "Field Supervisor". Besides the office work and payroll, she also made Field Inspections. She kept this job until the day of her death, August 18th, 2016. Karen was the biggest N.Y. Yankees fan the world has ever known. There was always a Yankees flag waving from her Honda CRV. Her spare tire was located on the outside of the rear door. A Yankees spare tire cover could always been seen by any driver who was behind her. Karen was the proud owner of Yankee footwear, back packs, umbrellas, wallets, gloves and baseball caps. If it had a Yankee logo on it, Karen would put it on her Christmas wish list. She and Jesse would attend games when possible. Karen kept a spreadsheet listing all the games, who played against who, and who actually won. Anyone who knew Karen also knew of her love of Lighthouses. In the hallway of her home hangs two big lighthouse pictures. On the opposing wall is a collage of five pictures of various lighthouses. The mat near the kitchen sink has a picture of lighthouse on it. Let's not forget about the bathroom. The mat by the sink also pictured a lighthouse on it. As one sits on the throne, one need only look upon the wall to see a framed picture of a lighthouse. If that same person turned to the left and looked at the shower curtain, he would see about fifty lighthouses. When Karen liked something, she was all in! Karen was an avid reader. She was always in the middle of reading a book. Karen also liked to do puzzles. Besides the ones with pieces that eventually formed a picture when completed, Karen also like word puzzles. If Karen wasn't in the house, one needed to check the patio located in the backyard to find her. She and Jordon (the Husky) would be there. Jordan would be lying on the grass working on his tan while Karen would be either working a word puzzle, catching up on the latest from "People" magazine, or checking out her favorites in "Soap Digest". She was a big "General Hospital" fan. In earlier years, she would tape the shows on a VCR and then binge watch them on the weekend. In later years, Karen watched General Hospital reruns on her laptop. She was halfway through an episode on the day of her death. Karen's day off from work was usually Thursdays. Thursday was a special day because she and Jesse would spend the entire day together. Karen loved the town of Winter Garden and always expressed a desire to move there. She and Jesse would drive to Winter Garden and then take Jordan for walks up and down the brick paved street. Sometimes all three would go to the dog park so Jordan could run free and socialize with his canine friends. She loved Jordan and Jordan adored her. Karen was the sweetest, kindest, most loyal person anyone could meet. If you were lucky enough to be her friend, you already know this to be true. If you were lucky enough to be family, you were truly blessed. The world will be a much sadder place without Karen being in it.

Karen A. Cappiello

March 25, 1955 - August 18, 2016