George Franklin Caperton died on March 8 in his Los Gatos home. He was 89 years old.

George was born May 31, 1914, in Tuckerman, Ark. For several years during the Depression he worked at the Parker Dam in Arizona. He then moved to Missouri to attend college and met his future wife, Nadine. They fell in love, got married and decided to move to Los Gatos, where George had family.

George worked as a builder, constructing Rao's Market—last renamed Hobee's—on the corner of Bean and N. Santa Cruz avenues, as well as the Village Paint store and many homes around Los Gatos. After his construction days, George worked as a building contractor for 25 years. He was a building inspector for Santa Clara County for the following 10 years, until 1983.

He is survived by his wife, Nadine, brother Adolph Caperton, sister Dorothy Wilcox, daughters Renee Leech and Marlene Philley of Novato and Marcia Behnke of Redding, four grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

Nadine describes George as a loving husband and father who never spoke unkindly of anyone. Donations can be made to cancer research or Presbyterian Church of Los Gatos.