Michael Sean "Mick" O'Neill

Michael 'Mick' Sean O'Neill
Michael 'Mick' Sean O'Neill, 68, died in his home in Yakima on January 15, 2014 after a 25-year-long battle with cancer.
Mick did not lose the battle. He fought tirelessly against countless complications, especially during an immensely difficult, five-year-long period at the end of his life. He showed the people around him what it means to never lose hope. He also showed them how to accept an unfortunate situation and make the most out of the time one has left in this world. Despite the problems, he never complained. "It is what it is," he would say.
Mick was born on July 18, 1945 in Ellensburg. Edna, his mother, and John, his father raised Mick into the type of person the term "Do It Yourselfer" was made for. The family owned and operated a dairy farm. Mick milked the cows every morning before school at Lourdes Academy, part of St. Andrew's Church, and Ellensburg High School. He attended Yakima Valley College and Central Washington University. During Vietnam he joined the US Army and was stationed in Germany. Following discharge he worked for Taylor Logging Company, a company that became a family to him and with which he traveled and gallivanted.
In 1982 Mick married Kaye Lorraine Carlson. The two lived in Yakima and in 1983 had their son Sean Michael O'Neill. The three were an inseparable trio.
Mick owned and operated O'Neill's Diesel Service, a tiny business with a big reputation that was also as much a family as it was a company. It was affectionately nicknamed "Mickey's Truck Farm" for the way it served as a trade hub for fresh produce, beat-up trucks, favors, and great things one never knew one needed.
With his wife and son, his extended family (and the O'Neill family is a very large family), and his enormous collection of friends he enjoyed camping, fishing, hiking, seeing Washington, rebuilding cars and participating in car shows as a member of The Vintiques Car Club, taking things apart, putting them back together, telling stories, and telling them again after he had forgotten he told them already. In the last few years of his life his favorite thing in the world was being at his cabin on Chinook Pass with his family and cherished friends.
Mick is survived by Kaye, Sean, who lives in Seattle, and many treasured nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, sister Kathleen O'Neill, and brothers Patrick and Larry O'Neill.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, January 25, 2014 at 2pm at Holy Family Catholic Church in Yakima and followed by a luncheon. Family and friends are encouraged to bring a favorite photo of Mick to pin up. A private family inurnment will be held at Holy Cross Cemetery in Ellensburg. Memorials may be made to Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Memorial Hospice, or North Star Lodge, care of Brookside Funeral Home, PO Box 9907, Yakima, WA 98909.
Arrangements by Brookside Funeral Home & Crematory