Harold Earl O'Neil

Harold departed Roswell, New Mexico, on Saturday, February 10, 2018, to be with his Father in Heaven. There will be no visitation or services as per Harold’s written instructions. Celebrate Harold’s life by visiting www.andersonbethany.com to offer a memory or expression of sympathy for his family. According to official records Harold was born at Moundsville, in West Virginia, (Moundsville is downstream on the Ohio River, approximately twelve miles to the south of Wheeling, WV.) He was the third child and only son born to Clifford Earl O’Neil and Pauline Virginia “White” O’Neil. He was preceded in death by his parents, two sisters: Helen “Peggy,” Evelyn “Corky”; his one and only daughter, Shari; and one of the seven grandchildren, Samuel “Sam” O’Neil. Surviving family members are two sons: Rory “Stacy” and Michael (Mike) “Loretta”; grandchildren: Patrick, Catherine, Christine, Tracey, Ashley and Kyle. August 2, 1950, Harold married the love and grand prize of his life, Clara Mary Kotson. They were married at the Methodist Church in Bellaire, Ohio. They moved into their first set of living quarters at Fort Campbell on the Tennessee and Kentucky border. Clara proved to be an outstanding army wife, and a blessing until his last ship-out date. Harold retired from the United States Army on the Stapp reviewing stand at New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, 1968. Twenty-four years later, he would be at the same location retiring from the New Mexico Military Institute. Harold always smiled and said he came to Roswell, in 1955, by mistake and was informed that the position he was to fill no longer existed and Army would reassign him to another senior college probably in Texas. Fate stepped in and an instructor had to be evacuated to the Army hospital in El Paso and Harold was temporarily assigned to fill that position with the understanding his service would be needed only until that ill instructor returned. Many events took place and Harold spent many years here in Roswell at New Mexico Military Institute. After retiring from the United States Army, Harold was employed as a faculty member at NMMI and retired at that age of sixty-six while serving as a tenured professor. Of all the assignments, Harold confronted in his life he cherished and honored was a two-year assignment after World war II. He was assigned as an honor escort responsible for individually escorting WWII Fallen Heroes, after their arrival from overseas, to their loved ones in the United States. Harold developed a keen interest in genealogy and had learned the difficulty of gaining information. Pictures and information can be found on the computer by going to Google and search for the National WWII Memorial, click on “Search the Registry” and type in First Name (example: Harold,) the Last Name and select the State the individual was residing in prior to being in the military service. Using Harold as an example select West Virginia. Follow the few remaining instructions and the information you are searching for will appear on the screen. Additionally, Harold has made it possible for a genealogist to gain access to all of his military records by contacting the County Clerk’s office in Roswell, New Mexico. This tribute was lovingly written by Harold Early O'Neil.

Harold Earl O'Neil

February 22, 1926 - February 10, 2018