Separated as children, siblings reunite at brother's funeral thanks to efforts of MontCo coroner

Editor's Note: This news organization has been telling the stories of unclaimed dead and their impact on the community since 2019. As of this publication, the cremated remains of 69 have found final resting places. But hundreds more remain unclaimed in Bucks and Montgomery counties. Our original "Unclaimed" stories can be accessed on our websites, and includes updated names, stories and statuses of the unclaimed dead in Bucks and Montgomery counties.

Michael Cappetta was 10 years old when the state separated him and his six siblings from their mother and each other.

Michael and an older sister were sent to a now-closed state hospital. His other five brothers and sisters ended up in different orphanages.

They would reunite only a handful of times over the following decades. One of those times was on Wednesday, when two of the six siblings gathered once more. This time, to bury Michael.

Prior to Wednesday's funeral, the last time Harry Cappetta saw his big brother Michael was 10 years ago, when Harry and his wife hosted a family gathering at their Quakertown home. It was the first time Michael and their big sister Helen had seen their mother since they were children.

On Wednesday, both Helen and Harry, along with his wife Nancy, gathered at Limerick Garden of Memories for Michael's burial.

The Montgomery County cemetery is located six miles from the controversial former Pennhurst State School and Hospital, where Michael and Helen lived for nearly 30 years before the state shut it down.

The brief graveside service was arranged through the Montgomery County Coroner's Office, which took custody of Michael Cappetta's remains after he died on Feb. 28 death at age 72.

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The only next-of-kin listed for Michael Cappetta had been a friend, who was unable to make final arrangements. Montgomery County Deputy Coroner Adam Shellenhamer started looking for family members and found Helen, who turns 78 next week.

But Shellenhamer soon learned that Helen has the mental capacity of a 13-year-old. She would be unable to take responsibility for her younger brother.

Soon, he would learn more about Cappetta's big — and fractured — family.

Michael was born in 1949, the first of two boys born to Michael and Dorothy Cappetta. The family lived in Philadelphia until 1960, when his father died, leaving his mother a widow with seven children.

Social workers removed the children from Dorothy's custody, though neither Helen nor Harry know why. The siblings were separated.

Harry ended up at a Catholic home for boys. Four of his other siblings also ended up at orphanages.

Michael and Helen, then 16, were sent to Pennhurst, the Chester County institution that once housed children and adults with mental, physical and developmental disabilities.

The brother and sister lived at Pennhurst for 27 years, until December 1987, when the state closed it after nearly eight decades of controversy involving unsanitary living conditions and widespread patient abuse.

Michael was 38. Helen was 43.

After Pennhurst closed, Michael and Helen were sent to different places. Michael went to a hotel in Chester County, where he lived for years. He later was transferred to Phoenixville Hospital and then the Parkhouse Nursing Home in Royersford, Montgomery County, where he lived until his death, Shellenhamer said.

What the family knew about Michael Cappetta's life

Harry Cappetta knew nothing about what happened to his brothers and sisters after they were separated.

He was in his 20s when he reunited with his mother. Soon after, he was able to find his sisters Diane, Pauline and Julia, who he remains in contact with. No one knows what happened to the youngest sibling, Millie, Harry said.

Harry was 55 years old when he finally located Helen in Chester County with the help of a social worker. It was Helen who connected him with Michael, whom he met for the first time since childhood about 15 years ago.

Now 70, Harry said he has almost no childhood memories of his only brother.

“All I know is he was smaller and skinnier than me,” he said.

Helen is the one who knew Michael best, since they were together most of their lives, he said. But her memories have dimmed with time.

She remembers going to the canteen with Michael at Pennhurst. They liked the hoagies. She would get a diet soda, Michael a cup of coffee.

"He drank a lot of coffee," Helen said.

They also liked to go shopping and watch "Tarzan" movies, she said.

In Montgomery County, a dedication to the unclaimed

This final family graveside reunion might not have happened at all had Michael not died in Montgomery County, which in recent years, has increased its methods for identifying potential alternatives for its unclaimed dead to avoid adding to the more than 100 currently in county storage.

In her research, Deputy Coroner Casey McAlpine learned that as a ward of the state, Michael Cappetta had a pre-paid burial plot at Limerick Gardens. As an unclaimed decedent, Montgomery County cremated his body, and McAlpine arranged to have the remains interred. They extended invitations to his surviving siblings to attend the service.

Harry's wife, Nancy, recited the "The Lord's Prayer" and "The Hail Mary," before a brief eulogy where she asked that Michael be led into heaven.

"May his soul rest in peace forever with his mom and dad now," she said. "Michael, you're with your mom and dad now forever."

Before leaving, Nancy Cappetta kissed her hand and touched the side of the box.

“God bless all these children. They had a tough start,” Nancy Cappetta said as she wiped away tears. “You are survivors. May you all be reunited in heaven.”

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This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Montgomery County coroner reunites sibling's for brother's funeral