O’Neills Retire from a Life of Service

After 35 years in the dental profession, Paul and Jean O’Neill decided they had much more to give. And now, after a life of community service that included disaster relief abroad, including Hurricane Katrina and the September 11 attacks, local volunteerism at United Church of Marco Island (UCMI) and its mission arm, the Bargain Basket, and Our Daily Bread Food Pantry, the O’Neills have decided to retire.

“Jean served as moderator of the executive committee,” said Ed Brandt, senior pastor of UCMI, “and both Jean and Paul served Our Daily Bread Food Pantry.”

While Paul was starting his dental career by serving two prisons in the morning, then operating a private practice in the afternoon and into the evening, Jean was running a consulting business.

"It started at 7:00 in the morning,” Paul said, "and then I'd leave the prison at noon, eat lunch, and I went from one till six or seven in my office. And it went quickly."

The prisons where Paul served were maximum security. He would ride his bicycle to work at the prisons. For the most part, Jean didn’t worry about her husband.

"One of them was a maximum prison,” she said, "and the other was the maxi maxi, where you only get out for an hour a day. Otherwise, you're in your cell. They were bad news. I honestly said make sure you wear clean underwear in case you're taken hostage."

Soft-spoken Paul has nothing but good memories of his dental career.

"I liked it,” he said. "It was a nice profession. It worked out well."

Jean decided to give up her consulting career after 25 years.

"I retired from that,” she said, "and then I was asked if I would become the senior person in the Red Cross in charge of services. So, I went to Washington, D.C. every week. I was not paid, but they covered all my travel, all my expenses. So then both of us went to work for a people care business that took care of people after airline crashes. So, we went to some of the airline crashes. We went to one in Greece. And then it kind of expanded, and we did the hurricane relief in Louisiana for Katrina."

They were also called into action after the 9/11 attacks.

“We got there 9/12,” Paul said, "and we were there until Christmas."

"We started with Marsh McLennan,” Jean said, "an insurance company. We went home for Thanksgiving dinner, came back, and we worked for the City of New York Fire Department."

Both Paul and Jean were literally born to volunteer.

"Our parents both volunteered,” Jean said. “And our kids do it now."

“It's been a wonderful, wonderful 63 years of marriage,” Jean said. “A wonderful life. We’ve got four kids and a lot of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

They may be one of the rare couples who make it to 70 years of marriage.

“It will be what the Lord has in mind,” Jean said. "I do not know, but I know it's his plan, not mine."

The O’Neills have been devoted to the Bargain Basket.

"I started out first down the road,” Jean said of the Bargain Basket’s original location. "I worked there, and then we had no paid staff. It was just all volunteers. And we were here Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and it was very relaxed."

"Tuesday and Thursday,” Paul said, “we would come in and clean up things."

“It was interesting,” Jean said of the early days of the Bargain Basket, "because we had a lot of discussion on whether we would allow anyone to volunteer outside of the congregation."

Now it takes a community effort to staff the Bargain Basket with volunteers.

“We got to the point where we needed to have outside help. It wasn’t a choice. Another one of the big discussions way back concerned all the money that came in. In the beginning it was ours, the Bargain Basket's. So we decided where it would go. As it got bigger and bigger, the church said, ‘Wait a minute. You know, you're part of us. We think the money ought to go to the church, and we will decide where it goes. I don't know whether we wanted to give up that control, but it worked out beautifully."

'We've been here over 30 years,” she said of their volunteer career at the Bargain Basket. It's really been awesome. It was a lot of fun. There were a lot of neat people we met that we never would have met otherwise. And the people are all very committed to helping, and that's the nice thing about it. They're very, very committed, and you get to know them. One of my classic remembrances was a church group that came by bus from Miami. Great big bus pulled in in the afternoon. It was hysterical. They all got off. Very few men, mostly women. They poured into the Bargain Basket in the afternoon."

"They came at 3:00,” Paul said. "There were so many people.”

“Everybody got to know them,” Jean said. "And when they left, not only the staff but all of the rest of the customers all walked out. 'Bye-bye. Come back again!' I mean, it was awesome. To me, that is what it's all about. That was a memorable, memorable occasion."

Jean said there are many touching moments at the Bargain Basket.

“People that come in, particularly when you work in the back room, they bring their things in, and some of them bring their wives' clothes after their wife died. They want to talk about it. They’re lonesome. So, we get a lot of that in there."

"The people that come to work here,” Paul said, “and come there to buy things, they're very, very nice people."

“They all talk to each other,” Jean said. "I mean, some come every day."

The decision to retire from their volunteer life at the Bargain Basket wasn’t easy.

"It's always just been a very pleasurable time here,” Jean said. "It was a very emotional decision. But we knew we had to begin to give up something. I mean, it was just getting to be a little much."

UCMI has been a big part of their life, too.

"Oh, I love this church,” Jean said. "I was very active in the church. I was moderator and I ran the select committee to get Pastor Mark Williams. That was the high point of my entire time in the church. He was absolutely the best thing that ever happened."

The O’Neills now live at the Arlington, where they volunteer in the memory unit.

“We moved off the island into the Arlington,” Jean said. "I go to church in the Arlington, and I serve communion. We kind of alternate. He goes to communion on Saturday. The Arlington is perfect for us. It was probably one of the best decisions we ever made. The people are very caring. It's small compared to some of the large ones. So, you get to know everybody, and they know you, and the staff calls you by name. Everybody knows everybody else. And if somebody you haven't seen for a couple of days, you check on where they are.”