Seaside Park Building Renovator & Silvermine Guild Arts Ctr. Board Member Helen Kapetan Passes, Age 88

Helen Virginia Grimes Kapetan passed away peacefully on Tuesday, March 21 at NCH Baker Hospital in Naples, Florida.

Born July 13, 1929 in Pittsburgh, PA, she was the daughter of the late Attorney Murray Bell Grimes and Virginia Corbus Patterson, who later married Hugh Dickson. She is survived by her adoring husband of 65 years, Peter Nicholas Kapetan in Naples, FL.

Helen graduated with an art degree from Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh and eventually relocated with her family to Fairfield, CT in 1963. Helen became an artist, board member and lifetime member of the Silvermine Arts Center in New Canaan, CT. She exhibited there and at the Museum of Art, Science and Industry and the Stamford Museum where she won Blue Ribbon for Best Woman Artist in CT, 1976. Helen also practiced etching in NYC and earned a Filmmaking Certificate at NYU.

In 1980, she formed her own restoration company, Revesco Development, and purchased and renovated a city block with seven lots and six buildings overlooking Long Island Sound at Seaside Park in Bridgeport, CT. She enjoyed growing flowers and won awards for her floral arrangements. She particularly looked forward to hosting "Movie Night" with her friends, and whenever possible, enlisted the Broadway singing talents of her son, Peter Kapetan, to entertain both at home as well as the Fairfield Beach Club where she and her family were members for many years. Helen loved travel abroad and enjoyed spending family vacations in their Harbour Island home in the Bahamas.

Helen is predeceased by her sister Isabel Grimes Pallante and her two sons, Nicholas Hugh and Peter Murray Kapetan. She leaves her devoted daughters Mellissa Kapetan Russow (husband Robert) of MIlford, CT and Christine Kapetan (husband Gerry Hurst) of Topanga, CA. She also leaves six grandchildren, Peter and Stephen Linderoth, Ryan, Edward, Alex and Allison Russow, nieces and nephews and one great-granddaughter.

Services will be held at the Greenfield Hill Congregational Church, Fairfield, CT at a later date and time. Private interment will be in Oak Lawn Cemetery, Fairfield, CT.

In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to benefit the Arts Scholarship Fund at Silvermine Arts Center, New Canaan, CT 06840. www.silvermineart.org. Fuller Funeral Home of Naples, FL is in charge of arrangements. 

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Submitted by Fairfield, CT

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