Arthur (Art) Ormond Capener

Arthur (Art) Ormond Capener, 71, Marshfield, passed away on Friday morning, April 23, 2021 from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) at his home surrounded by family and his faithful companion, Oliver, the family dog who never left his side.

Funeral services will be held at Hansen-Schilling Funeral Home, 1010 East Veterans Parkway, Marshfield, on Saturday, May 1, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. with Pastor Aaron Herman officiating. The visitation for family and friends will be from 11:00 a.m. until the time of service at the funeral home on Saturday.

Art was a kind man with a big heart, whose contentment was most often found in the everyday moments shared with those he loved. 

He was born August 10, 1949 in New London, Wisconsin, the son of the late Ormond and Jeanette (Warnecke) Capener. Art was the youngest of four siblings and he had fond memories of growing up in a small town, spending summers camping with family and friends in Door County and on the Waupaca Chain O’ Lakes, where his lifelong love of the water began.

Art graduated from New London High School in 1967 and found his calling when a friend told him about an opportunity to train on the job at a hospital near his hometown. Art became a respiratory therapist, a career he loved and took great pride in for more than four decades. He worked in hospitals and home health companies, and was known for his kindness, patience, and compassion for all people.

Art had an adventurous spirit and liked being outdoors, and he appreciated the beauty of every season. He enjoyed many outdoor activities over the years but especially loved waterskiing, sturgeon spearing on Lake Winnebago, camping and boating. Over the course of his lifetime, he owned a catamaran, a sailboat and a variety of power boats. He joked that it did not matter if he was in a rubber raft—his happy place was on the water.  To those who loved him most, he will always be remembered as Captain Art.

While living in Menasha, he met the love of his life, Lori Faucher, in the summer of 1991. They married on March 5, 1994 in Lori’s hometown of Marshfield and started their new life together in Neenah. After several moves throughout the state, their careers eventually took them to Marshfield where they raised their girls. Art fondly called Lori “his beautiful wife” and he cherished being a husband and father to his “fella” Anthony, “peanut” Olivia and “littlest one” Taylor.

While every anniversary is a milestone, Art and Lori’s 27th wedding anniversary on March 5, 2021 was especially meaningful as it was evident Art was nearing the end of his ALS journey.

Art was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, on September 22, 2020, a brutal blow as it was the thing he feared most in life. Art’s father passed away from ALS in 1977 at the age of 70, and Art shared stories over the years of helping to care for him and the profound impact it had on his life.

There is no cure for ALS; it is a life sentence. Receiving this diagnosis was devastating to Art, Lori and their family, and seemed all the more cruel for a man who rarely had an ache or pain and had always been blessed with good health. Art’s disease progressed quickly and he succumbed to it only seven months after diagnosis, far faster than expected at the onset. He will forever be missed and remembered.

Art is survived by his wife, Lori; their daughters Olivia (Dominick) Sweeney, La Crosse, and Taylor (John) Casey, St. Paul; and his son, Anthony, Menasha, from a previous marriage. Art is further survived by his in-laws Jerold and Eileen Faucher, Marshfield; brother-in-law Rick Faucher (Ethan Pruett), Phoenix; sister-in-law Michelle (Steve) Zimmerman, West Salem; sister-in-law Julie Capener, New London; and nieces, nephews, cousins and friends, including best friends Tom and Anita Barth, Marshfield.

He is preceded in death by his parents Ormond and Jeanette Capener, and siblings Carol Sedlar, Lavilla Capener and Paul Capener.

Lori would like to thank family and friends for their love and unwavering support in helping to care for Art and making it possible to carry out his wishes to pass away at home. She also thanks the home health and hospice teams of Ascension at Home for their compassionate care.

Memorial donations in Art’s honor may be made to the Wisconsin Chapter of the ALS Association or the Marshfield Clinic Research Institute to further ALS research and studies.

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