Nina Capilets

Nina Capilets, who spent many summers living near Gardiner’s Bay in Amagansett, died shortly after a massive stroke on Dec. 20 in Naples, Fla. She was 89.

    One of her five daughters, Corrine Capilets of Amagansett, said yesterday that her mother held on after the stroke until all of her daughters arrived in Florida and gathered together with her, when she died peacefully.

    Born in Brooklyn to Antonio Lazzara and the former Josephina Bonura on March 23, 1923, she graduated from Grover Cleveland High School and went on to study to be a dietician, a profession she pursued for many years.

    She married Joseph Capilets, who survives, in July 1943. They raised their family in Garden City and Syosset.

    As the family grew, they started vacationing in Amagansett. “We came out every summer,” her daughter said. “She liked going to Montauk. She loved fish.”

    Her favorite seafood was lobster. “She was famous for eating every bit of the lobster,” her daughter said. The family would frequently barbecue on the beach.

    “She wanted to be fashionista, but she had five girls,” Ms. Capilets said. Even so, she was a master of the art of shopping, and she and her husband always made an attractive couple, she said. “She loved to dance. She was perky. She had more energy than all of us.”

    She enjoyed the kitchen and cooking, pasta and meatballs being a specialty.

    In recent years, she lived on Marco Island, Fla. She had an orchard there, with oranges, grapefruits, and lemons.

    In addition to her husband, who lives on Marco Island, and daughter, she is survived by her other daughters, Joanne Finnegan of Sarasota Springs, N.Y., Candace Sendrak of Vernon, Conn., Nina Ammerman of Naples, Fla., and Amagansett, and Caryn Teague of Arvada, Colo. Three granddaughters, three grandsons, four great-grandchildren, and a brother, Anthony Lazzara of Naples, Fla., also survive.

    The family will receive friends at the Hodges-Josberger Funeral Home on Marco Island next Thursday from 3 to 5 p.m. A Mass will be said at St. Marco Catholic Church on Friday, Jan. 11, at 10 a.m., with burial to follow at Marco Island Cemetery. Memorial contributions have been suggested to Avow Hospice, 1095 Whippoorwill Lane, Naples, Fla. 34105.