Nadine Michelle Caputo

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Nadine Michelle Caputo, age 60, of Chestnut Hill, PA passed away peacefully on Friday, April 10, 2020 after a long, courageous battle with cancer. She is survived by her two children Alexa and Andrew Haines, her two brothers, Steven and Peter Caputo, as well as her parents, Nerina and Maurice Caputo, her nieces Susan and Sarah and her nephew David, as well as four grandchildren Talulah, Elliot, Vivienne, and Erik, and her husband, Alfred O’Neill.

Born in Jersey City, N.J. on March 5, 1960, Nadine graduated from Roxbury High School and received a BA in Accounting and MBA from Lehigh University. In 1981, she married Robert Haines, a fellow member of the Lehigh University band, the Marching 97.

Despite getting divorced in 2014, they remained good friends and partners at Insaco Incorporated in Quakertown, where she worked with him as an accountant, CFO and advisor for 25 years. Besides her deep love for family, Nadine had a driving passion for life and all its gifts – specifically, she loved music, Classic Hollywood and travel. A flute and piccolo player, she was a member of the Lehigh University Marching ’97 marching band and became their first female band manager in 1981.

Having kept up her skills from her marching band days, she joined the Quakertown band in 2006 and various chamber groups in the Philadelphia area. It was a great honor for her to be elected the first female president of this 140 years-old community band. The songs, lyrics and musical numbers of Classic Hollywood were so engrained in her she could sing them all, tell you their backstory, and yet watch each one as if for the first time. All her life, whether with her family on family road trips to sailing the QM2, she had an insatiable desire to see the world and experience as much as she could – she made everything an adventure.

After her diagnosis, she embraced this as never before. Just in 2018, she traveled to: New Years in London, UK; Valentine’s Day in Fort Lauderdale; Aruba in March; April was in Big Sur, California; May found her hiking in St. George’s, Zion and Bryce Canyons, Utah; June in Lisbon, Portugal; her beloved Bermuda in September; Maine, Quebec and Montreal in October; Paris, France in November; completing the year she visited several cities of Central Europe, ending with New Year’s in Vienna; 2019 began with her touring Prague and Budapest. Amazingly, she did all this between treatments.

Of her many admirable traits, she always put family and others needs first. A quiet philanthropist to many organizations, Nadine was a very active Lehigh alumnus and co-sponsored a scholarship for deserving students with her ex-husband as well as supported the School of Education’s program working with “Caring for Cambodia”, which focused on bringing education to poor children in Cambodia.Due to COVID-19, an in-person memorial service is postponed until circumstances are safe.

There will be a celebration of her life sometime this fall. Nadine defined devotion as a daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother and friend. Her love of classic Hollywood, her flute playing and music, boundless generosity and unremitting sense of decorum and decency will be remembered. She will be missed by all. In lieu of any expressions of sympathy, the family would appreciate memorial donations be made to the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place Memphis, TN. 38105; or the Quakertown Band, 112 N. Hellertown Ave.; Quakertown, PA 18951.  

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