Elvin T Lightcap Jr.

1930 - 2025

Elvin T Lightcap Jr. was born Aug. 11, 1930, in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. He was the son of Elvin T Lightcap Sr. and Ann Ruskay Lightcap.
As a child his family took canoe trips on the Delaware River for outings and vacation. These trips created a lifelong love for canoeing. Through his life he canoed in a variety of locations, including Belize.
He enlisted in the Air Force after high school. After serving in the Air Force, he began working for the New Jersey Bell Telephone Company, gradually working his way into a management position. In 1985 when the courts ordered the Bell system split into smaller companies, he was able to retire. His early retirement meant that he could pursue his true interests: gardening, faceting gemstones, cooking, canoeing and reading.
Soon after retirement he and his wife, Paula, moved to rural Maine, where for eight years he cut wood, maintained the rural property, grew huge gardens and built a greenhouse. They then moved several times in two years and ended up in southern Massachusetts. Gardening was quite a different experience because the climate was moderated by the gulf stream and his vegetable garden began to include more crops. He also built a greenhouse where he grew seedlings by the thousands.
In 2004 he and Paula moved to Yucca Valley to care for her aging parents. The desert and Joshua Tree Park offered a wonderful variety of hiking trails and rock hunting but not much canoeing.
These last years were the most challenging of his life. As his body strength weakened, he worked harder and harder to maintain his lifestyle. As with all of us age eventually won yet even in his last weeks he was doing strength training to build muscle.
He is survived by his wife, Paula Durrant, and by his three children from his first marriage, Elvin III of Texas, Robert and Jo Ann (John) of New Jersey.
Services and burial are private.