Veronica (Anstey) O'NEILL

ONEILL, ANSTEY, VAN ANTWERP, HUGHES

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 4/28/2008 at 19:26:22

Wright County Monitor
April 24, 2008

Veronica O'Neill, 98, a longtime Clarion resident, died April 16, 2008 at Careage of Clarion. Funeral services were held Saturday, April 19 at St. John's Catholic Church in Clarion. Rev. Paul Lippstock and Rev. Thomas O'Neill officiated the 1 p.m. service. Burial was held at St. John's Catholic Cemetery, Clarion.

Veronica Anstey was born July 12, 1909, the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. John Anstey of Massena. After completing a B.A. degree at the University of Iowa, and, at a time when jobs were difficult to find, Veronica worked at Marshall Fields in Chicago, Illinois before accepting a teaching position in Massena. Soon after, Veronica accepted a teaching position in the Clarion Public Schools and moved to Clarion in the 1930's where she met and married Francis O'Neill in 1940. The couple had two children, Peggy and John.

Veronica was an involved member of the Delta Zeta Sorority while at the University of Iowa. In Clarion, Veronica was a charter member of the American Association of University Women in Clarion, was active in church work with St. John's Catholic Church, and taught in the Clarion Public Schools when her children were enrolled in college. In later years, Veronica and Francis enjoyed spending several months a year in their mobile home at the Fountain East Mobile Home Park in Mesa, Arizona.

Veronica is survived by a daughter, Peggy of Las Vegas, Nevada; a brother, Dr. George Anstey and wife, Catherine of St. Louis, Missouri; a sister-in-law, Mrs. Maurice (Marie) O'Neill of Council Bluffs; a brother-in-law, John Hughes of Anchorage, Alaska; numerous nieces and nephews and many cousins. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Francis (Irish); a son, John; two sisters, Marjorie Hughes and Helen van Antwerp; and one brother, John Eugene.