Robert O'Neil

1928 - 2021

Robert O'Neil
August 11, 1928 - October 22, 2021
Kalispell, Montana - Dr. Robert O'Neil, Emeritus Professor of English at California State University at Fresno, died peacefully on October 22 in his hometown of Kalispell, Montana at the age of 93. "Bob," as he was commonly known, spent 35 years teaching at Cal State Fresno until he retired in 1992. He was by all accounts a beloved teacher and respected member of the faculty who taught everything from freshman composition to graduate literature seminars, including serving for many years as a supervisor of student teachers in the CSUF teacher credentialing program for middle school and high school teachers. Dr. O'Neil, whose favorite American authors were Willa Cather and Henry James, intrepidly rode a 10-speed bicycle from his house to campus (about 6 miles one-way) for exercise and a greener form of transport.
Bob and his wife, Karin Gudrin Friedrich, whom he met and married in Cologne, Germany while serving in the U.S. Army, bought a house made of adobe brick in Fresno's Fig Garden neighborhood and turned the grounds into a grand garden of fruit trees and spectacular plants. Art was everywhere, inside and out, and classical music was often on the stereo uplifting the spirit of all within hearing. When not in the garden or the classroom, Bob could be found hiking and fishing in the Sierra Nevada Range or strolling along the Pacific Coast with Karin and their children. Karin shared Bob's love of travel, especially to Europe, often to Cologne where her family remained. Tragically, Karin died of cancer in 1994.
Soon after the death of Karin, Dr. O'Neil left Fresno and returned to Montana, where he spent his youth, to live out his retirement in Lakeside on the shore of Flathead Lake. There he built a new house on land his father purchased, lakefront land with a view over the vast lake to the imposing Mission and Swan Ranges. Continuing his academic interests in retirement, Dr. O'Neil volunteered at the Northwest Montana History Museum and generously sponsored and judged The Ted Crail and Della Ve Carr Poetry Contest for high school students. Nor did Bob neglect the literary needs of older writers, as he held small classes in memoir writing for residents of the Buffalo Hill Terrace retirement community in Kalispell. He also traveled back to Germany to help care for Karin's aging parents.
Once back in Montana, Dr. O'Neil became reacquainted with Barbara (Bobbie) Wilson Truckner, whose first husband had died. Bob and Bobbie married in Kalispell on July 20, 2003, and afterwards they lived primarily in Bobbie's house in Kalispell.
Robert O'Neil was born in Kalispell on Aug. 11, 1928 and graduated from Flathead County High School in 1946. His parents, Byron and Mabel O'Neil, owned O'Neil Printers located in downtown Kalispell. After graduating from high school, Bob attended the University of Montana at Missoula. Some of Bob's best days as a young man were spent among the mountains of Western Montana, working for the U.S. Forest Service. After his military service, Dr. O'Neil completed work for the Ph.D. in English at the University of Washington in Seattle, writing his dissertation on John Bunyan's Christian allegory, The Pilgrim's Progress.
Dr. O'Neil is survived by his wife, Bobbie, and by his daughter, Anita O'Neil, of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, and his son, Sean O'Neil, of Pico Rivera, California, as well as Maeve Kaufman, his granddaughter. Survivors also include Anita's husband, John Kaufman, and Sean's spouse, Cesar Martinez.
Other surviving members of the Truckner family are Bobbie's daughters, Jeannette Pisk and Karen Marshall, both of Kalispell, Montana as well as Bobbie's son David Truckner of Williston, North Dakota and their families.
No public services or memorials for Dr. Robert O'Neil will be held, but the families encourage donations in honor of Dr. O'Neil's life and service to the Northwest Montana History Museum in Kalispell or any environmental or educational organization of your choice.