Charles R. O'Meilia

Family-Placed Obituary

CHARLES R. O'MEILIA 85, died peacefully in his sleep October 16, 2008. Known by his friends as Charley, he was the building official and public works director for his beloved Village of North Palm Beach for 26 years and a village councilman for 12 years. Charley was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma July 26, 1923 and graduated from Central High School in 1940. He earned a chemistry degree from Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University) in 1943 and joined the Navy where he served as a lieutenant aboard the submarine USS Roncador in the Pacific during World War II. He remained in the U.S. Naval Reserve until retiring as a captain in 1972. After the war, he earned a degree in chemical engineering at Oklahoma A&M in 1947. He was co-owner of a small automobile engine rebuilding company and a forklift rebuilding firm in Oklahoma City until moving his family to Florida in 1963. For six years he worked for an engineering firm in Melbourne and Palm Bay before moving to North Palm Beach as public services director in 1968, running both the building and public works departments. During his tenure, the village built expanded Osborne and Anchorage Parks and built the North Palm Beach Community Center and the newly named Tom Valente Sports Complex. He was a key player in negotiating the acquisition of land that became John D. MacArthur State Park. He was the dean of the county's building officials and was chairman for 13 years of the Southern Building Code Congress committee that rewrote the hurricane code that Florida eventually adopted. He was president of the county and state building officials groups and accumulated numerous awards including building official of the year in both Florida and the southeastern U.S. After he retired in 1994, he ran for the village council a year later and served six two-year terms before stepping down in 2007. He served on the board of directors of the Leagues of Cities of Palm Beach County and was Member of the Year in 2006. He also was chairman of the multi-jurisdictional Northlake Boulevard Task Force. He was married for 58 years to Mary Clare Donnelly, an Army nurse he met in San Francisco at the end of the World War II. She died in 2005. They raised five children. Charley devoted his personal time to his family, coaching youth baseball, the Melbourne Central Catholic High School baseball team and one of the first girls' softball teams in North Palm Beach. He was an enthusiastic but largely unsuccessful fisherman. He was a longtime usher at St. Clare's Catholic Church in North Palm Beach. He is survived by his five children, Timothy of Palm Beach Gardens, Charles of Apopka, FL, Frank of Sylva, NC, Marianne of Alvin, Texas and Christine of North Palm Beach. Two of three brothers also survive him, William and Jay, both of Tulsa. He has four grandchildren and one great grandson. Friends may call from 5PM to 7PM Monday, October 20 at Howard-Price Funeral Home, 754 U.S. Highway One, North Palm Beach, FL 33408. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday October 21 at St. Clare's Catholic Church, 821 Prosperity Farms Road, North Palm Beach FL 33408, followed by interment at Royal Palm Memorial Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the St. Clare's Catholic School Scholarship Fund, 821 Prosperity Farms Road, North Palm Beach FL 33408. Military Officers Association Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 8171, Jupiter FL 33468. To express condolences and/or make donations Visit PalmBeachPost.com/obituaries