James "Jim" A. Cappa

James (Jim) Allan Cappa, 84, of Lakewood, Colorado, passed away peacefully on April 28, 2026, in Lakewood, Colorado.

He was born on April 10, 1942, in Merced, California to parents Fabio Galileo and Mary Louise (McLoughlin) Cappa.

Jim grew up in San Francisco, California. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1960 to 1963 as a jet engine and prop mechanic on the U.S. Navy’s P2V Neptune and S2F Grumman Tracker aircraft. He received a Bachelor’s in Geology from University of California at Santa Barbara and a Master’s in Geology from New Mexico Tech and has worked for private industry, the U.S. Forest Service and the Colorado Geological Survey.

Jim was a gentle, curious, and adventurous soul, and a dutiful father and loving husband. His children and, especially, his grandchildren, brought him immense joy and pride. He loved to travel and did so often for both work and pleasure. Jim loved dogs and he secretly loved cats, outwardly tolerating them, and shared his life with many canine and feline companions throughout the years. He held a fascination with cars and airplanes from a very young age and was a competent mechanic and civilian pilot and owned numerous antique cars and civilian airplanes. He held a lifelong love of geology and the earth sciences. In this pursuit, he traveled to nearly all continents and many remote parts of the world, including an epic months long motorcycle trip across Africa, and over the years collected an impressive number of unique and beautiful rock specimens. He contributed to many advancements in economic geology and geologic mapmaking, and he authored several books, roadside signs and materials for the Colorado Geological Survey. He was a member of Toastmasters and has given numerous talks and presentations on the Geological history of Colorado’s Front Range. In his later years, he volunteered for Jefferson County Open Space teaching astronomy and geology to the public in Conifer, Colorado. He also volunteered for the Colorado School of Mines’ Museum of Earth Sciences, helping to curate their impressive rock collection.

He is survived by his wife, Betty June Cappa, and her daughters, Laura Ailene Springer and Lynne Alison Bachman Brown and her husband Gary; his first wife and the mother of his children, Sharon Lee Lydon and their sons, Patrick James Cappa and his wife Jennifer JoCarole Cappa, and Anthony (Tony) Robert Cappa and his wife Anna Kathleen Berkman and his grandchildren Lena Maren Cappa and Laurence James Cappa; and his siblings Wayne Cappa and his wife Michele, Gary Cappa and his wife Barbara, and Joan (Punky) Agostini and her husband Charles (Chuck), as well as many nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews.

Services to be held at Stork and Morley Funerals and Cremation at 12-1:30 PM on May 28th, interment at Ft. Logan National Cemetery at 2:30 PM following the service.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider a donation to The Alzheimer’s Association or another worthy cause.