Reese Edward Capron

Reese Edward Capron was born in Guthrie, Oklahoma to Reese Monroe Capron and Louise Helen (Nau) Capron on August 22, 1935 and passed away February 9, 2024.  He spent his pre-school years in Tryon, Oklahoma with his folks and younger brother, Ted.  The family moved to Edmond when Reese was seven, where he and Ted were educated at a teacher’s training school, Central State Teachers’ College.  When Reese was thirteen, his family bought a farm east of Edmond, where they lived for the next thirty-three years.

Reese graduated from Edmond High School and then from Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (renamed Oklahoma State University one month after his graduation) in 1957 with a degree in animal husbandry.  Reese was working on the family turkey farm, raising as many as 5000 turkeys/year, when a chronic respiratory illness in the flocks, followed by a devastating dip in the ’59 turkey market ended that phase of their business.

Reese and his brother and parents continued farming with Polled Hereford cattle and Dorset sheep, even as Reese returned to college to qualify as a secondary science teacher.  He taught five years at Jefferson Middle School in OKC and thirty-two years at Choctaw, both high school and middle school, while still farming with the family.

The Corps of Engineers took the Edmond farm by eminent domain for Lake Arcadia.  Reese, his wife Sharon, and their four blended-family children moved to their new farm in the Prague area in 1981.  His parents and brother made their move the following year.  The two brothers worked together for decades, raising cattle, sheep, and goats and tending pecan trees, as long as they were able.

Reese was active in the community of Prague as a Lions’ Club member and in the Prague United Methodist Church, serving in many different capacities over the years.  He received Prague’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.  He was very active in the Prague Future Farmers of America for over a decade, led annual field trips to the Prague farm for his Choctaw students, team-taught children’s Wednesday night church classes, taught Sunday school at Lilley Prison for twenty years, was over twenty years active in Kairos (an interdenominational prison ministry), and much more.

Reese did not have extra hobbies.  His family, his farm, his church, and his community were his life and his hobby.  Reese is survived by his wife, Sharon Capron, three sons and two daughters, and many in-laws, grandchildren and several greats.  His children and their spouses are Bari & Brad Trost of Rigby, Idaho, Alex & Dee Capron of Prague OK, Jennifer & Robert Levins of Laurance, Kansas, Eric & Heather Capron of Prague OK, and Mark & Rene’ Capron of Tulsa, OK.  The proud grandpa of fifteen grandchildren, some already grown with their own spouses, a still-growing number of great-grandchildren, and countless friends.

Reese’s memorial service will be held at the United Methodist Church of Prague on Wednesday, March 6, at 3:30pm.