Edwin Russell Cape of Collinsville, Oklahoma was born June 19, 1937 in Steelville, Missouri to Wilbur Russell Cape and Elaine Cape and passed away on July 15, 2026 at the age of 89 years.
He grew up in Steelville, graduated from Steelville High School, where he served as vice-president of his senior class, and spent 10 years as an active member of his local 4-H chapter, the Go Getters 4-H Club, serving as its president and showing cattle.
In 1959, Edwin joined the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, serving until his honorable discharge in 1965.
He had a natural showmanship, which led him to play the role of Old Matt in the outdoor drama Shepherd of the Hills in Branson, Missouri.
He married Marian and in 1969 the two made their home in Collinsville, Oklahoma.
He began his working life as an insurance adjuster, rising to Claims Manager for Great American Insurance Company, then earned his license as a private investigator and ran his own investigation firm in the early 1970s. He went on to found Exhibitor Western, a business supplying western marketing materials, apparel and jewelry. In the early 1980s, he started a purebred cattle sale management business, Ag Dynamics, organizing and managing numerous purebred cattle sales, and from the mid-1970s through the early 2000s he raised his own herd of purebred Simmental cattle. He also helped organize and found the Heart of America Appaloosa Association, serving as its president for its first three years.
He served as president of the Southside Sertoma Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as chairman of the Washington County Rural Water District, and as a volunteer fireman.
Edwin later returned to his insurance adjusting roots, working as a catastrophe adjuster following Hurricane Hugo's landfall in Charleston, South Carolina in 1989, a career he continued into the 2010s. He was on assignment adjusting earthquake claims in Los Angeles when the 1992 riots broke out around him, one of many stories from a career defined by showing up wherever the work was needed.
Over the last twenty years of his life, Edwin turned a lifelong love of collecting antique western and cowboy gear and memorabilia into his final business, Traildust Antiques.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Wilbur Russell Cape and Elaine Cape; sisters, Flora Sidebottom and Norma Brown; and wife, Marian Cape.
He is survived by his brothers, Wayne Cape and Harold Cape; sons, Joel Cape and Wayne Van Dolah; daughters, Julie Dizmang and Jill Downs; grandchildren, Gracie Cape, Waylon Cape, Kristinia Prewitt, Randall Van Dolah, Sarah Cain, Michael Bramlett, Rebekah Bramlett and Rachel Bramlett; great grandchildren, Dakota Doss, Noah Doss, Jordan Exton, Roman Jimenez, Isaac Ayers, Silas Ayers, Phoebe Prewitt and Olivia Prewitt; other relatives and friends.
Funeral service was held at 2 p.m. on Friday, July 24, 2026 at Collinsville Dolton Funeral Home in Collinsville, Oklahoma.
Arrangements under the direction of Collinsville Dolton Funeral Home in Collinsville, Oklahoma.
