Delores Helen Capstraw

November 17, 1926 - September 15, 2020

Delores Helen Capstraw November 17, 1926 - September 15, 2020 Artist and violinist Delores Capstraw brought art and music everywhere she went. Born in 1926 in Sacramento, California, Delores Helen O’Neill was the oldest of the four children of Kathryn and Joseph O’Neill. As a child she played many instruments—even the drums so that she could play in the school band and participate in the 1939 World’s Fair in San Francisco—but eventually settled on the violin. As a member of the glamorous Sacramento Convention Ensemble, she played violin throughout the Central Valley. She received her BA in Art from San Jose State College and in 1972 the Master of Fine Arts from University of Georgia. In the fifties, she taught art at Sutter Junior High School and performed in the Sacramento Symphony, where she met her future husband, violinist and engineer George Meldrum. Wherever they lived (Ann Arbor, Michigan; Greenwood, South Carolina; Albany, Georgia), they played in local symphonies and ensembles, including an annual performance of Handel’s Messiah. George died in 1977. In 1984 she married Robert “Bob” Capstraw and eventually moved back to her beloved California. There she continued her artistic career and was very involved in WASH, Watercolor Artists of Sacramento Horizons, and Placerville Art Association. They were active members of El Dorado County Federated Church. A year after Bob’s death in 2009, she moved to San Antonio to be closer to her daughter. Delores painted and sold beautiful watercolor and oil paintings under her brush name “Delores O’Neill Meldrum,” taught art at Albany Junior College (now Darton College), and played and taught violin until she was in her eighties. She loved attending concerts of the San Antonio Symphony, the Cactus Pear Music Festival, and other musical groups, and enjoyed immensely the music at University Presbyterian Church. She is survived by her daughter Janifer Meldrum and son-in-law Edward “Bud” Eaton, San Antonio; brother Patrick O’Neill (wife Elizabeth), Santa Rosa, CA; sister Marlene Nagle, Roseville, CA; brother Donald O’Neill (wife Leni), Laguna Niguel, CA; five nieces and a nephew. On September 23 she was buried with her husband Robert Capstraw at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery. University Presbyterian Church will hold a memorial service in San Antonio on Saturday October 10 via Zoom. If you wish to make a contribution in her memory, please consider University Presbyterian Church where she was a faithful member https://upcsa.org/giving/ or the San Antonio Symphony https://sasymphony.org/donate/