V.J. "Puck" O'Neal

MOREHEAD CITY - Mr. V. J. "Puck" O'Neal, 92, of Morehead City, passed away peacefully in his home on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2010.
Services will be held 2 p.m. Sunday at Franklin Memorial Methodist Church with the Rev. David Jones officiating. Interment will follow at Bay View Cemetery in Morehead City.
V.J. "Puck" O'Neal was born in Hatteras, N.C., on Dec. 2, 1917, but the family moved to Morehead City when he was five years of age. He started the first grade here and received all of his formal education in Morehead City. He went into the seafood business in 1941 but his business career came to a quick halt with the start of World War II. During the war he was in the U.S. Army Air Corps. As a radio operator on board a B-26 Bomber he flew 51 missions in the European Theater. Most were out of England but the latter ones were from France. He was discharged in September 1945 and upon his return to Morehead City he started back in the seafood business the next day. In 1953 he started doing some business in Key West, Fla. In 1958 he and Pearl moved to Key West and he opened the V.J. O'Neal Shrimp Company. In 1959 he merged with another Key West shrimp company and his business became the Thompson-O'Neal Shrimp Company. In 1961 he opened new shrimp packing companies in Texas and in British Guyana, South America. In 1962 he opened the "International Food Corporation" in Tampa, Fla., a brokerage house that bought and sold seafood all over the world. In 1971 he bought a shipyard in St. Augustine, Fla. It started demanding so much of his time that he sold out his interest in the shrimp and seafood companies in 1976. The "St. Augustine Trawler Company, Inc. " occupied most of his time and life during the next 19 years. That business grew to be the largest commercial trawler construction and repair business in the United States. It was the only trawler construction business in the world, building trawlers out of the wood, steel, and fiberglass at the same time. In 1979 he started "V.J. O'Neal & Company, Inc." a deep sea scallop business in Seaford, Va. In the early 1980's he became a major stock holder in the "Western Branch Metals Company" which sells stainless steel world-wide, mostly to the boating industry. In the mid 1980's he started "Puck O'Neal Seafood, Inc.", a seafood business and "L & O Marine Hardware, Inc.", a hardware business, both in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Along the way in his busy career he found time for Key West Lions Club. He was on the Board of Directors of the Key West Chamber of Commerce, Key West Country Club, Florida National Bank, and was Commodore of the Key West Yacht Club. He has been a member of the BPO Elks and the American Legion for more than 52 years. He has been a Mason for more than 49 years and a Shriner for more than 48 years. He was also in the Morehead City Jaycees. In 1981 he became President of the South Eastern Fisheries Association, whose home office is in Tallahassee, FL. In 1991 he and Pearl moved back to Morehead City into semi-retirement. He has belonged to Franklin Memorial Methodist Church for more than 70 years. In 1998 he started the" V. J. 'Puck' O'Neal Scholarship Fund". It will be administered by the Carteret County Giving Foundation and will fund two full four year scholarships each year, one in Marine Science and one in Christian Ministry.
Mr. O'Neal is survived by many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his wife of 74 years, Pearl Willis O'Neal.
Special thanks go to Karen Thompson, care givers Andy Hardee, Debbie Parmin, Sheila Williams, Tammy Murrell, and Sandra Brown.
The family welcomes flowers or memorials may be made to Franklin Memorial United Methodist Church,1112 Arendell Street, Morehead City, NC 28557, Hospice of Carteret County, P.O. Drawer 1619, Morehead City, NC 28557, or Ocean Lodge #405 AF & AM, P.O. Box 675, Morehead City, NC 28557.
The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Munden Funeral Home.
Online condolences to the family may be made at www.mundenfuneralhome.net.
Arrangements by Munden Funeral Home in Morehead City, N.C. View and post condolences on our online guestbook at dailypress.com/guestbooks.