Obituary for Mary Eleanor O'Neill

Mary Eleanor O’Neill, 81, of Westerville and formerly of Cincinnati, passed away Sunday, April 17, 2016 at Parkside Village, Westerville. She was born November 13, 1934 in Baltimore, MD, one of six children of the late Michael Delea and Eleanor Grogan. She is preceded in death by her husband Richard T. O’Neill, longtime chemistry professor at Xavier University, and sisters Anne Delea, Patricia (Bob) Brettman, and Nancy Delea. She is survived by her brother Michael Delea and sister Martha Delea, and by her sons, Thomas (Beth) O’Neill of Lexington, KY, and Michael (Shari) O’Neill of Gahanna, OH, as well as her four grandchildren, Kevin, Brian, Kaitlin, and Richard O’Neill, and many nieces and nephews. Mary Eleanor met her husband Dick while a graduate student in library science at Carnegie Mellon University, and they enjoyed a long happy marriage before his death in 1995. She started a new chapter when she moved to Columbus to be near her younger son and family. A loving sister, mother, and grandmother, fabulous cook, avid gardener, and voracious reader, Mary Eleanor was beloved by all who knew her and will be much missed by her family and many friends in Columbus, Lexington, Cincinnati, and Baltimore. She lived by the credo from the Baltimore Catechism that she learned as a young child: “God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.” Calling hours will be Friday, April 22 from 4-7 p.m. at HILL FUNERAL HOME, 220 S. State Street, Westerville, OH, with Mass of Christian Burial to be held at Church of the Resurrection, 6300 E Dublin Granville Rd, New Albany, OH on Saturday, April 23 at 10:30 a.m. The Rev. Fr. Jerome P Rodenfels Celebrant. Interment will take place at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery, 11000 Montgomery Road, Cincinnati, OH, on Monday, April 25, at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Xavier University Annual Fund, 3800 Victory Parkway, Cincinnati, OH 45207-5460; the Central Ohio Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund, 1550 Old Henderson Road, Ste. N-160, Columbus, OH 43220; and to The Cincinnati Library Foundation, 800 Vine Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202-2009.