Bodo Capeller

He is survived by his son, Konrad, daughter-in-law Heather, grandsons Kaleb and Collin of Spokane, Washington, sister Waltraud of Cottbus, Germany, sister-and-brother-in-law’s Jackie and Lester Fishkin of Portland Oregon, and numerous other relatives and friends. Bodo's beloved wife of 46 yrs, Kathileen, preceded him in death seven years ago.

Bodo was born in Berlin Germany in August of 1936. His wartime childhood experiences had some profound effects on him, instilling a deep sense of adventure, an insatiable curiosity for seeking and studying the future unknown, and a determined attitude. His adventuring started when he was 14 when him and a friend toured Germany and Switzerland by themselves on bicycles for an entire summer… stopping at youth hostels and farmhouses along the way doing odd jobs to raise money for food and shelter for the next days’ ride. His dream as a boy was to become a railway engineer/conductor in Germany but he soon realized that because of the economy and conditions, such a job may not be possible for many years. He realized there wasn’t much opportunity in Germany then, and was determined to have more in life. This lead him at age 20 to accept an immigrant workers permit to Canada - despite not without knowing much English or French - and abruptly leaving his mother, sister, trade school, and Germany behind. He landed by steamship in Quebec City, Canada and began a new life doing odd maintenance jobs while learning English partially from English comic books. He then spent three years in Canada crisscrossing the country between Vancouver, Kelowna, and Montreal doing maintenance work, working on Canadian railroads, and all the while honing his metal working and machining skills which would become the basis of his work life in the United States.

During his years of traveling and crisscrossing Canada, Bodo was introduced to astrology and metaphysical research. These interests kept his attention for the rest of his life. His early passion for railroads led him to model railroading and photography - often combining both hobbies - taking many driving vacations that were centered on railway-related destinations.

Bodo eventually immigrated to the United States in 1960 to Venice, California, intending to work in Southern California’s booming aerospace manufacturing and machining industry. The next adventure in his life was a surprise and came in in the form of a “invitation” (as he jokingly called it) by the President of the United States to “participate” in a draft into the United States military. Bodo was drafted into the U.S. Army in September 1961 and served two years as a truck driver and mechanic. He always considered it ironic that the U.S. military knew he was a German national yet did not station him in Germany, nor in the United States, but 30 miles away from the German border, in Metz, France. Being stationed in France allowed him to travel Europe more extensively than he did as a youth as it was war torn during his childhood years. Bodo was released from the U.S. Army in September 1963 and had gathered quite a bit of machining and maintenance experience and had obtained a pathway to U.S. citizenship which he took advantage of in 1966.

His traveling and adventuring were not complete yet, as he crisscrossed the western United States and back to forth to Canada for a few years working in various machining jobs from 1963-1970. He worked for companies such as Jet Propulsion Laboratories and Technicolor. His traveling and adventuring were as much about finding machining work as much as it was about finding various metaphysical study groups throughout the western U.S. where he could network, study, and find lifelong friends. In 1971, while back in California he was introduced by a friend to his future wife Kathileen. They were married in 1971 and eventually settled in Sun Valley, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, where they bore a son, Konrad. In Los Angeles, Bodo continued his machining work while working with all of the major movie studios including MGM, Universal, Panavision, and Walt Disney. He worked behind the scenes for various movies and television shows. Ironically his time in the industry was marked by the first movie he worked on 2001: a Space Odyssey in 1968 and marked by one of the last movies he worked — that movie’s eventual sequel: 2010: The Year We Make Contact, made in 1984.

In 1991, Bodo and his family started a new adventure by moving to Spokane, Washington, where Bodo worked in various machine shops until his eventual retirement in 1998. He continued his astrology, metaphysical research, traveling and photography hobbies until his passing in January 2024. In his retirement in Spokane, he could be found at most model railroad shows looking for good deals on toy locomotives and H.O. model layout parts.

His lovingly stubborn German attitude could be seen in his insistence on always using screws instead of nails when building something, a strong aversion to paying for parking…anywhere, and his weekend mornings of sharing too many strong opinions after having too many cups of coffee. His steel resolve could be attributable to his war time childhood and his lifelong work in machine shops. His resolve and feisty attitude will sorely be missed.

Bodo was 87 years old.

Services will be held Friday, February 16th at 1pm at the Washington State Veterans Cemetery in Medical Lake, Washington.