WEST FRANKFORT -- Harold R. O'Neil, 82, died at 3:55 a.m., Friday, March 1 in Memorial Hospital of Carbondale. He was born Feb. 5, 1931, in West Frankfort to Thomas Raymond (Ray) and Bertha (Boles) O'Neil. Visitation will begin at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, March 17, at John A. Logan College in Carterville in O'Neil auditorium. Services will be at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 17, with the Rev. John Annabel from University Baptist Church officiating. On Aug. 9, 1958, he married Marolyn Womack in Stonefort, and they shared 54 years together. She survives. Other survivors include a son, Shawn, (Elizabeth) of Carbondale; two daughters, Shannon (Bill) Thomas of Taylorville and Shara Maxwell (Jason Williscroft) of Chicago; six grandchildren, Kevin, Bryn and Morgan of Marion, Keegan and Hannah Murphy of Carbondale and Hugo Garibaldi of Chicago; two great-granddaughters; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents; one brother, the Rev. Burdell O'Neil of Rock Falls; and two sisters, Dimple Williams of West Frankfort and Evelyn LoBue of Chicago Heights. After graduation from West Frankfort Community High School, he served in the U.S. Army from 1952 to 1955. After the Army, he came back to study at SIU Carbondale and received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees there. His career in education began as a junior high teacher at Carterville Elementary School in 1958. Harold spent a year in an internship in school administration at West Frankfort High School. In 1960, he came to Carbondale Community High School as a government teacher and freshman basketball coach. Later he became a guidance counselor, then principal and on to assistant superintendent. In 1968, he was the fourth administrator hired at John A. Logan College as dean for student services, then became vice-president for instructional services and finally named JALC's fourth president in 1982. He retired at an early age to make sure he could finally get to fish all he wanted to, and indeed, one of his favorite activities was having groups of fishing buddies join him for a weekend at his home on Ken-tucky Lake. Harold served on the board of directors for Bank of Carbondale from 1988 to 2012. He provided leadership in many educational and civic organizations, mainly in Southern Illinois, and was well honored for his efforts. Harold was a 47-year member of Carbondale Elks Club. He became very interested in helping promote Southern Illinois Irish Festival after visiting his beloved Ireland on three different occasions. His wish for all his friends and relatives would be, "May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night, and the road downhill all the way to your door." Memorials may be made to Harold and Marolyn O'Neil Scholarship Fund. Checks should be made to John A. Logan Foundation and sent to 700 Logan College Road, Carterville, IL 62918 Walker Funeral Home and Crematory of Carbondale is in charge of arrangements. Published in The Southern Illinoisan on March 10, 2013