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Meet Maryrose Capko: Serving and Supporting Those Who Have Lost Loved Ones
While each person handles the loss of a loved one differently, the challenges and emotions surrounding grief are universal. Maryrose Capko has made it a mission of hers to support those who are grieving a loss. She is trained to support those going through grief.
Maryrose’s motivation and driving force for carrying out this important work stems from the loss she and her husband, Jerry, suffered when their son, Jack, passed away in 2011.
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“Back in 2011, there was nothing for child loss in this area,” Maryrose says. “I drove as far as Monticello to find a grief support group for parents.”
Maryrose leads a Bereaved Parents Support Group which meets on the third Thursday of each month at Emblom-Brenny Funeral Home, and she also leads a group in Sartell. This past May, she led Grief Support Sessions also at Emblom-Brenny Funeral Service in Little Falls. These were open to anyone who has experienced the death of a friend or a loved one. More sessions are being planned for the fall.
The couple’s son, Jared, is 26, and Jack would have been 19 and graduated from high school this past spring.
“It doesn’t get any easier,” Maryrose says. “It gets different. Life has forever changed.”
Given her own experiences with loss and grief, leading other parents through the loss of a child is so important to Maryrose. In fact, she recently received a certificate as a Grief Care Provider from Colorado State University.
“All losses are different,” she says. “Child loss is unique in that it’s the wrong order. As a parent, you have never held your baby and thought you would bury this child.”
Maryrose Capko has made it her mission to help those grieving a loss.
All of the sessions are open to anyone and attendees need not be Catholic. Maryrose wants to encourage people to reach out to one of the groups if needed, and no one should feel that they must go through loss alone. Others also find individual counseling sessions to be more meaningful to them.
“It helps to talk with people who have similar experiences,” she says.
To be certified as a Grief Care Provider, Maryrose went through five, week-long classes in Fort Collins, Colo. She says this is the “perfect” way to honor Jack’s memory.
In the face of great loss, Maryrose hopes to offer at least some help to those who are suffering. Each person handles things differently, so she cannot necessarily teach a person how to go through a loss. However, she is there to listen, facilitate and give suggestions. She hopes the groups are a way for people to connect and keep the support going.
“Our faith is to help others — Jesus came to serve,” Maryrose says. “We are not supposed to live our lives just for ourselves.”
Besides carrying out this important grief support work, Maryrose also does custom leatherwork, fixes shoes for Bermel’s Shoes & Boots in Randall, and serves as a substitute teacher. Jerry is a dairy farmer.
