Stephen Joseph Kapelczak

Stephen is the second born son in our family of 10 children.  He grew up in the San Diego area.  There he attended grade school at St. Rita’s Catholic School & worked in the church office.  He also served as an altar boy.  His high school years were spent at St. Augustine High School.  And he also attended San Diego State University.

As a big family we spent hours playing Polish, German, Slovenian, Spanish, Italian, American and Swiss music with every musical instrument we could get our hands on.  Back then we all took music classes in summer school.  We named our music group, ‘The Applejacks’.  Steve was the talented band leader.  His primary love & expertise was for the accordion & piano but he also played the bass fiddle. With three other siblings he formed a smaller band where we played on the San Diego Harbor Cruise and also in Balboa Park at the various ethnic houses.  We also did Polish dancing together.

Shortly after high school Steve enlisted in the US Navy where he served for 6 years and he worked as an electronics technician.  He sailed on the USS Independence to Spain and Italy.  After his years in the service he worked as a computer technician at National Semiconductor.  He also dabbled in California Real Estate sales for awhile.   When he moved to Florida, other jobs he held, were in Airport Transportation and at National Car Rental. 

He was also quite the handyman & builder.  If you ever needed your washer & dryer fixed, he was the man.  He could fix anything.  He even built an insulated dog house for his pet to keep him warm in the winter.  He loved dogs, cats & really any animal especially if they were strays.

Steve loved to cook & eat healthy.  He was also a great gardener & connoisseur of great foods.  Because of his own health issues, he became very knowledgeable about vitamins & healthy living.  He was always there for you if you wanted to talk about health & technology.

Steve had a big heart & generous spirit.  He took care of others & had a great love for the elderly, poor, disadvantaged & anyone in need.  He was a caregiver for his sick and dying friends.  In the last 4 years of his life he was able to help raise his friends’ child.  That little baby boy meant everything to him.  He sacrificed so much for him.  His hands were full of mercy for others and we pray that “Thee Divine Mercy” is now holding him in His loving & merciful arms.

Please continue to pray for Stephen & all his loved ones.

God bless you!

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