resting_place district succeeded death_date death_place birth_place party term_end preceded birth_date term_start spouse image article_title state name
santa barbara cemetery santa barbara , california , u.s. 22nd lois capps 28 october 1997 reston , virginia , u.s. omaha , nebraska , u.s. democratic october 28 , 1997 andrea seastrand 5 may 1934 january 3 , 1997 lois -rrb- capps -lrb- 1960 -- 1997 , his death waltercapps.jpg walter capps
 california walter capps
walter capps

walter holden capps -lrb- may 5 , 1934 -- october 28 , 1997 -rrb- was an american politician .
he was a democratic party member of the united states house of representatives .
capps lost an election to andrea seastrand for the 22nd district in california in 1994 , which was a landslide year for the republicans .
while driving home from a campaign event during the summer of 1996 , capps ' vehicle was struck by a drunk driver .
capps was seriously injured and was unable to actively campaign until the final few weeks of the race .
during his absence from the campaign , his opponent , graciously , did n't make his failing health an issue .
ultimately , despite his absence from the campaign trail , capps won , even as bob dole edged bill clinton in the district .
capps died of a heart attack at dulles airport only nine months into his term .
the reverend jesse jackson attended his funeral .
capps was succeeded by his widow , lois capps , who won in a special election in the spring of 1998 .
subsequent legislation by congresswoman capps has mandated the presence of aeds in public places .
before entering politics , capps taught for more than thirty years at the university of california , santa barbara .
as a professor in the religious studies department he helped define the field , and cataloged the growth and changes in his 1995 book `` religious studies : the making of a discipline '' .
an anti-war activist during the 1960s , he later initiated a nationally renowned course titled `` religion and the impact of vietnam '' in 1979 .
his name lives on in the walter h. capps center for the study of ethics , religion and public life at the university of california , santa barbara .
