Obituary of Russell Jack O'Neill

Russ O’Neill was born on August 16th, 1937 in Grand Island Nebraska to Elmer and Agnes O’Neill. During his childhood he lived in Nebraska, Wyoming and San Diego. Upon graduating High School in 1955 he entered the Air Force. While in the Air Force he was stationed at various bases in the United States as well as South Korea shortly after hostilities ended. He eventually settled in Southern California* where he met and married the love of his life, Ginger (Frances) O’Neill, and married her on March 3rd, 1962. He received a BS in electronics engineering while attending night school and made significant contributions to the aerospace/defense industry during the cold war starting in the early 1960’s. He traveled throughout the U.S. and visited our foreign allies to perform quality control checks and implementation of missile systems. He only retired in the mid 80’s due to complications resulting from a bout with cancer in 1969. He enjoyed working with computers, ‘tinkering’ with anything electronic, camping and was a World War 2 buff. After overcoming many physical challenges over the years, Russ passed on May 3rd, at the age of 77, as the result of a fall in the home. He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Ginger O’Neill, Cathy Collie (daughter), Steve O’Neill (oldest son) and Mike O’Neill (younger son). He also has 5 grandchildren - Shawn Thomas, Ashley Gill, Meghan Thomas, Samantha Elstein and Emily O’Neill as well as 3 great grandchildren. Funeral Services will be held at Rose Family Funeral Home in Simi Valley on Saturday May 16th at 2:00pm. * When Russ was in 4th grade (1947) he heard about an amazing new concept in transportation taking place in Southern California called a ‘freeway cloverleaf’. He was so struck with this concept that upon leaving the Air Force he went to California for the sole reason of seeing a ‘freeway clover leaf’. Thankfully, he ended up staying and making history.