Charles J. O'Neill, 86
Charles J. O'Neill, age 86 of Nashua, died Sunday, May 3, 2020, at the Valley View Care Center in Greene, Iowa.
A private family funeral ceremony will be taking place. Please join the family Wednesday, May 6, 2020, at 10 a.m. via Facebook live on the Hugeback - Johnson Funeral Homes Facebook page. You may leave online condolences to support the O’Neill Family. Please mail cards to his wife, Phyllis O'Neill, at Valley View Care Center, 108 High St, Greene, IA 50636. Hugeback Johnson Funeral Home & Crematory - Olson Chapel is in charge of arrangements.
Charles J. O’Neill was born on Aug. 9, 1933, on the family farm in Nashua. He was the oldest of four sons born to Harold and Elvira “Woodward” O’Neill. Like all farm kids in that era, Charles had his farm chores.
He attended country school through the eighth-grade and then transferred Nashua High School. He was a member of the Class of 1952.
After graduation, he continued working with his parents on their farm before serving a two-year stint in the U.S. Army.
He dated Phyllis Vohsman while in school, and when he returned home from the Army, the couple was married on June 24, 1957. They eventually welcomed seven children — Joann, Steve, Bob, Dave, Janet, Brian, and Scot — to the family.
Charles was a farmer. It was a family affair as the family not only raised crops but also milked cows and had pigs, chickens, goats, sheep … Put it this way, if it was a farm animal, at one time or another it was on Charles’ farm. He also did a lot of custom work and ran a backhoe service.
Charles did custom work on the side, and he and Phyllis enjoyed their neighborhood card group playing a lot of “500” and “31” over the years. He also enjoyed the annual sled rides he gave his children with his Case tractors, the water fights the family had in the summer although he always wanted to have the hose, deer hunting, going to the sale barn, fishing, and tending to his garden.
He enjoyed the several fishing trips he took to the Lake of the Woods in northern Minnesota, and was most at home in the outdoors — on his farm, out in the woods hunting, on the lake fishing, or in his yard working in his garden.
Charles is survived by his wife, Phyllis O’Neill; five sons, Steve O’Neill of Nashua, Bob (Sarah) O’Neill of Nashua, David (Carmen) O’Neill of Nashua, Brian O’Neill of Cresco, Scot O’Neill of Charles City; two daughters, Joann (Bruce) Aswegan of Northwood, Janet O’Neill of Northwood; nine grandchildren, Nathan (Alicia) O’Neill, Nickolas (Tresa) Aswegan, Jenna (Dakota Rossiter) Weitzel, Calli O’Neill, JR O’Neill, Emma O’Neill, Elayna O’Neill, Sam O’Neill, and Rosie O’Neill; five great-grandchildren, Elexa O’Neill, Gavin Buseman, Emilie O’Neill, Eliyana O’Neill, and Xavier Rossiter; two brothers, Ray (Nora) O’Neill of Dewitt, Dean (Pat) O’Neill of Davenport.
He was preceded in death by his parents; a brother in infancy; and a granddaughter, Dana Aswegan.
