Clara Jayne (DeCapita) DeCaro

Clara DeCaro, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, died on Tuesday, January 7, 2020, in home hospice.  Clara was born on Thursday, February 28, 1918, the third of four daughters born to Alessandro and Lucia DeCapita, Italian immigrants who settled in Youngstown, Ohio.  Clara attended public schools in Youngstown, but due to the impact of the economic recession of the late 1930s and the outbreak of World War II, Clara could not immediately pursue a desired college education.  Instead, she eventually found a promising career as a portrait photographer and eventually managed her own studio in Steubenville, Ohio, until 1949.  Clara afterward pursued her education, earning a bachelor’s degree from Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky.  In 1954, she married Louis A. DeCaro, a Pentecostal clergyman and biblical scholar.  Throughout much of their fifty-five years together, Clara devoutly served the Lord alongside her husband in several pastoral appointments, likewise earning education credentials and serving as an elementary school teacher in Niagara Falls, N.Y., New Brighton, Pa., and Rochester, N.Y.  In 1981, the couple retired in Lehigh Acres, Florida, where they lived until 2006, afterward relocating to Albuquerque, N.M., where Louis died in 2009.

Clara DeCaro is survived by her sons, Frank DeCaro of Albuquerque and Louis DeCaro Jr., a daughter-in-law, Michele Sweeting-DeCaro, and a grandson, Louis Michael DeCaro, all of New York City, and her younger sister, Desdemona DeCapita, of Albuquerque, and Steve Hedlun, a dear family friend, also of Albuquerque.

One of Clara’s favorite biblical texts was Psalm 103:1-5: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgives all thine iniquities; Who heals all thy diseases; Who redeems thy life from destruction; Who crowns thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies; Who satisfies thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

It is at the time of death that we Christians may be most proud—not of ourselves, for we are no less mortal nor wounded by death than the non-believer. Yet death becomes for us the bleak landscape against which our resurrection hope shines all the brighter. Speak not to us of the “the circle of life.” That may serve well enough for the plants and beasts of the field, but our hope is in Christ Jesus, Who declared, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die” (John 11:25). We honor our beloved mother, Clara DeCaro, who has fallen asleep here and awakened on that beautiful shore, where she now joins the people of God in awaiting the day of the Lord and the regeneration at the end of the age, according to our Savior (Mat. 19:28). As Clara’s family, we are comforted by the sure promises of Christ Jesus, and we do not grieve as those without hope. – Frank, Lou, Michele, LouMike, and Aunt Des