Joseph O'Neal, animal doctor
"When I think of Dad," Margaret McManus said of her father, veterinarian Joseph M. O'Neal, "it's someone who is an old-time gentleman.
"When I think of Dad," Margaret McManus said of her father, veterinarian Joseph M. O'Neal, "it's someone who is an old-time gentleman.
"A country doc is what I think of him.
"He came from a country farm, and he lived by those values 100 percent."
On Saturday, Oct. 22, Dr. O'Neal, 97, of Wynnewood and Longport, N.J., owner since the late 1940s of the O'Neal Animal Hospital in West Philadelphia, died at the senior living community Sunrise of Haverford.
Born on his family farm in Loogootee, Ind., Dr. O'Neal earned a bachelor's in biology at Indiana University.
In 1944, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, married his wife, Marjorie, and moved back with her to Indiana.
As an Army officer, he worked from 1944 to 1946 helping to inspect cattle for the Department of Agriculture before they were slaughtered for food.
The O'Neals returned to Philadelphia, his daughter said, and in the late 1940s he opened the O'Neal Animal Hospital at 34th and Market Streets.
It is now in the 4400 block of Market, where, though retired from surgery, Dr. O'Neal continued to oversee the practice.
While running his hospital for small animals, she said, he was also a veterinarian for an SPCA office in Philadelphia, from the late 1940s into the early 1950s.
And for a time in the 1950s, he was an occasional contributor to a Philadelphia radio show, Ask the Vet.
After his first wife died in 1989, Dr. O'Neal married Lorraine Cieplinski in 1992.
They moved year-round to Longport in 2000, where he was a member of an American Legion post.
Besides his daughter, Dr. O'Neal is survived by his wife, sons Joseph M. II and James, stepson Peter Horos, stepdaughter Debbie Haack, two sisters, 10 grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, and a great-great-grandchild.
A visitation was set from 9 to 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 28, at the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, 240 Haverford Rd. Wynnewood, before a 10 a.m. Funeral Mass there, with interment in Calvary Cemetery in West Conshohocken.
Donations may be sent to the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, 3800 Spruce St., Philadelphia 19104.
Condolences may be offered to the family at www.mcconaghyfuneralhome.com.
610-313-8134 @WNaedele