Baker City, Oregon
Raymond Willis O’Neal, 97, of Baker City died Feb. 24, 2003, at Settler’s Park Assisted Living Center.
His funeral service will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave. Pastor Lenny Spooner of the First Church of the Nazarene will officiate. There will be a reception afterward at Gray’s West & Co. Graveside committal will be at 2 p.m. Monday at Juniper Haven Cemetery in Prineville.
Visitations will be from noon to 5 p.m. Friday at Gray’s West & Co.
Raymond Willis O’Neal was born July 11, 1905, at Poplar Bluff, Mo., to Ada and Newton O’Neal. As a small child he traveled by wagon train from Missouri to New Mexico where the family homesteaded at Elida.
He married Thelma Brummett Jan. 25, 1936, at Clovis, N.M. They moved with two small children to Kamiah, Idaho, in 1939 where they lived in a logging community in the mountains.
After the birth of their third child, they moved to the mill town of Kinzua where their fourth child was born. In 1959 they moved to Prineville where they retired and remained until 1993 when they moved to Baker City. Mr. O’Neal had lived at Settler’s Park for the past two years.
Ray spent most of his lifetime logging and working in mills. After his retirement in 1969 he continued to work at odd jobs until he was no longer able to do so. He spent many years hunting in the mountains around Kinzua, then enjoyed fishing and camping on the lakes around Prineville.
He took great pride in gardening and always had a huge garden with no weeds and no rocks! His family was always of great importance to him and he was very fond of all his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Ray was always known to be a generous man who would give you the shirt off his back – and he always loved a good joke whether he was giving or receiving it.
Survivors include his brother, Walter O’Neal of Albuquerque, N.M.; his children, Bill and Betty O’Neal of Heppner, Cenone and Lewis Benson of Prineville, Ada and Ernie Schell of Mitchell, and Darlene and Dennis Teskey of Baker City; grandchildren, Bobby, Richard and David Howard of Little Rock, Ark., Jim and Roxanne O’Neal of Duvall, Wash., Rick and Kathy O’Neal of Prineville, Donna and Jason Maben of Heppner, Nola and Larry Neal of Madras, Karen Albert of Prineville, Pete Schell of Sandy, Brenda Admire of Roseburg, Angie and Dusty Moore of Milwaukie, Troy Hanson of Baker City, and Season Teskey of Hillsboro; 25 great-grandchildren, four nieces and three nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Thelma, of 64 years; his daughter, Wanda Howard; four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, February 28, 2003
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor