Carle Francis O'Neil was born to Clinton Dewitt (C. D.) and Emma Engeman O'Neil in Kalispell on June 17, 1920. He died Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. Carle grew up the youngest of four surviving children in the fine bungalow-style home on the corner of Fifth Street and First Avenue West. He attended the West Side School and at Flathead High School was the editor of the distinctive 1939 yearbook. He went to Carleton College and graduated with distinction in 1943. For many years he was the editor of the Class of '43 newsletter.
During World War II he enlisted in the Navy and served in Hawaii and as a Lt. J.G. ship's officer in the South Pacific.
After the war he earned a masters degree in history at the University of Montana. He returned to Kalispell as the juvenile probation officer and served his state as a representative of Flathead County in the Legislature. He went to the University of California and obtained a Master of Social Work degree with a criminology emphasis.
He worked as a parole officer in Oakland, then as a counselor at San Quentin prison and then moved to the California Women's Prison in Corona. From there he was hired to direct the Eldora State Training School for Boys in Iowa where he spent the remainder of his career in corrections. He wrote of his correctional experiences in "An Uncommon Task & Other Stories" (St. Mary's Press, 1989).
It was in 1962 while he was in Eldora that he married Apgar native Joyce Greenwalt Rowland and adopted her two children, Anne and Bobby.
Upon retirement in 1973 he returned to the Flathead Valley and became a partner in Western Building Center, after taking over and developing the Columbia Falls store. He and Joyce built their dream house on the slope of the range east of the valley. He was a member of the Montana Board of Public Welfare and served seven years as chairman of the Juvenile Justice Advisory Council of the State Crime Commission.
He and Joyce moved to Washington, D.C., for several years for Carle to direct a project of the National Organization for Social Responsibility for paroling prisoners to do community service.
When they again returned to the Flathead, his interest in history turned him to the history of the Flathead Valley. In 1990 he published "Two Men of Demersville," a history of that substantial but short-lived town on the head of navigation on the Flathead River. In 1996 came "Muscle, Grit & Big Dreams," a history of the earliest towns in the valley, 1872-1891. In 1998 came "The Mystery of Marias Pass," the story of the discovery of the lowest pass in the Northern Rockies and the building of Great Northern Railroad through the pass.
His service in World War II and his friendship with high school classmates who served in the National Guard 163rd Infantry Regiment made him sensitive to the scanty record of the role these young men played in the war in the South Pacific. He carefully interviewed the survivors and put their stories together in "Men Do Your Duty, Memories of Flathead National Guardsmen from their Pacific Campaigns of World War II," published in 2001.
When navigating winters on the mountain became a little too much, he and Joyce moved to a home looking up at Columbia Mountain and overlooking the Flathead River. They became fixtures in Columbia Falls. Carle enjoyed many hours volunteering at the Montana Veterans Home. After Joyce's death in May of 2012, the big house on Crescent Drive became too much, and Carle moved to Buffalo Hill Terrace.
Carle charmed everyone who met him, and he never met a man or woman he wasn't interested in talking to. His many interests meant that his friendships were with a great variety of people. If he gave you three puns in a fairly short conversation, you knew that you had been taken into the special circle of his friends. His personality was a magnet that drew visiting friends from many parts of the U.S. and Canada to his and Joyce's home. He revisited the South Pacific islands he had known in World War II, and he greatly enjoyed regular trips into southern British Columbia to "soak my bones" at the hot springs resorts.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Joyce; his sisters, infant Floy Luvilla, and Vera Ann and Wilda May; his brother, DeWitt; his son, Bobby; grandson, Cale Brown; and son-in-law, Tom Brown.
He is survived by his daughter, Anne Brown; nieces, Willa Johns, of Spokane, and Bobbie Truckner (Bob O'Neil), of Kalispell; nephews, Chip (Jean), of Portland, Tom (Jackie), of Florida, Jerry (Jeanne), of Columbia Falls, Mike (Linda), of Kalispell; and members of Joyce's family and numerous other cousins, nieces and nephews.
Carle was loved dearly by all members of his extensive family who fondly referred to him as "The Patriarch." He will be sadly missed and most fondly remembered.
A celebration of Carle's life will take place in the Buffalo Room of the Buffalo Hill Terrace on Wednesday, Feb. 6, at 1 p.m. with a reception to follow.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Carle O'Neil, please visit our flower store.
During World War II he enlisted in the Navy and served in Hawaii and as a Lt. J.G. ship's officer in the South Pacific.
After the war he earned a masters degree in history at the University of Montana. He returned to Kalispell as the juvenile probation officer and served his state as a representative of Flathead County in the Legislature. He went to the University of California and obtained a Master of Social Work degree with a criminology emphasis.
He worked as a parole officer in Oakland, then as a counselor at San Quentin prison and then moved to the California Women's Prison in Corona. From there he was hired to direct the Eldora State Training School for Boys in Iowa where he spent the remainder of his career in corrections. He wrote of his correctional experiences in "An Uncommon Task & Other Stories" (St. Mary's Press, 1989).
It was in 1962 while he was in Eldora that he married Apgar native Joyce Greenwalt Rowland and adopted her two children, Anne and Bobby.
Upon retirement in 1973 he returned to the Flathead Valley and became a partner in Western Building Center, after taking over and developing the Columbia Falls store. He and Joyce built their dream house on the slope of the range east of the valley. He was a member of the Montana Board of Public Welfare and served seven years as chairman of the Juvenile Justice Advisory Council of the State Crime Commission.
He and Joyce moved to Washington, D.C., for several years for Carle to direct a project of the National Organization for Social Responsibility for paroling prisoners to do community service.
When they again returned to the Flathead, his interest in history turned him to the history of the Flathead Valley. In 1990 he published "Two Men of Demersville," a history of that substantial but short-lived town on the head of navigation on the Flathead River. In 1996 came "Muscle, Grit & Big Dreams," a history of the earliest towns in the valley, 1872-1891. In 1998 came "The Mystery of Marias Pass," the story of the discovery of the lowest pass in the Northern Rockies and the building of Great Northern Railroad through the pass.
His service in World War II and his friendship with high school classmates who served in the National Guard 163rd Infantry Regiment made him sensitive to the scanty record of the role these young men played in the war in the South Pacific. He carefully interviewed the survivors and put their stories together in "Men Do Your Duty, Memories of Flathead National Guardsmen from their Pacific Campaigns of World War II," published in 2001.
When navigating winters on the mountain became a little too much, he and Joyce moved to a home looking up at Columbia Mountain and overlooking the Flathead River. They became fixtures in Columbia Falls. Carle enjoyed many hours volunteering at the Montana Veterans Home. After Joyce's death in May of 2012, the big house on Crescent Drive became too much, and Carle moved to Buffalo Hill Terrace.
Carle charmed everyone who met him, and he never met a man or woman he wasn't interested in talking to. His many interests meant that his friendships were with a great variety of people. If he gave you three puns in a fairly short conversation, you knew that you had been taken into the special circle of his friends. His personality was a magnet that drew visiting friends from many parts of the U.S. and Canada to his and Joyce's home. He revisited the South Pacific islands he had known in World War II, and he greatly enjoyed regular trips into southern British Columbia to "soak my bones" at the hot springs resorts.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Joyce; his sisters, infant Floy Luvilla, and Vera Ann and Wilda May; his brother, DeWitt; his son, Bobby; grandson, Cale Brown; and son-in-law, Tom Brown.
He is survived by his daughter, Anne Brown; nieces, Willa Johns, of Spokane, and Bobbie Truckner (Bob O'Neil), of Kalispell; nephews, Chip (Jean), of Portland, Tom (Jackie), of Florida, Jerry (Jeanne), of Columbia Falls, Mike (Linda), of Kalispell; and members of Joyce's family and numerous other cousins, nieces and nephews.
Carle was loved dearly by all members of his extensive family who fondly referred to him as "The Patriarch." He will be sadly missed and most fondly remembered.
A celebration of Carle's life will take place in the Buffalo Room of the Buffalo Hill Terrace on Wednesday, Feb. 6, at 1 p.m. with a reception to follow.