ZEPHYRHILLS, Fla. – Harry Alton O’Neill, 92, passed away quietly at home surrounded by loved ones, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013, just before midnight. He was born Oct. 11, 1921, in East Millinocket, the first of four sons of George O’Neill and Celicia Jane Rhoades O’Neill.
Harry grew up in East Millinocket, Carrol, and Kossuth, where he learned to hunt, fish, drive truck, whittle, sing and play guitar, and tell stories at an early age in the company of a large extended and blended family. He attended school at Lee Academy, receiving his diploma on his return from WWII, when he attended Husson College for two years. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force leaving work at the shipyards in South Portland. During WWII he served mostly as a gunnery instructor at the rank of Staff Sgt. Following V-J Day he was assigned to the occupation forces over Europe. He had developed skills as a carpenter prior to the war then worked independently around Lincoln, then in Forrest Nichols’ mill-work shop before beginning a 33-year career at Great Northern Paper Co. The family returned to East Millinocket in 1956, where he would retire as an instrumentation technician and member of the IBEW. Other cherished memberships include Horeb Lodge AF & AM No. 93, and the American Legion. Harry received his 50-year Masonic pin in January 2002 at Zephyrhills, Fla. He and Merle Gifford O’Neill, his wife of 65 years, split their retirement between camp at the Little Narrows in Lincoln and Betmar Acres in Zephyrhills, Fla. Golf had replaced ice fishing as the preferred winter activity at which he similarly excelled hitting two of his three holes-in-one on the same day.
Besides his wife, he is survived by two sons, Daniel and wife, Roberta, of Oxford, and Lee and wife, Michelle, of Rowlett, Texas; granddaughters, Jaimie O’Neill, Ariel Harrell, and Melissa Crabb; and grandsons, Colin O’Neill, Deghan O’Neill, and Michael Crabb. Harry was predeceased by son, Carter O’Neill; brothers, George Jr., Peter, and Kenneth O’Neill; and half siblings, Carl O’Neill, Maybelle (McDunnah) Dow, Linwood McDunnah, Geraldine (McDunnah) Estes, Clara (McDunnah) Shedd and Albertus McDunnah.
A memorial service will be held 2-4 p.m. Nov. 14, at the Annex, Betmar Acres, Zephyrhills, Fla. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to HPH Hospice, East Pasco, 37455 Clinton Ave., Dade City, FL 34653.
Harry Alton O’Neill
