Carle O'Neil

Carle Francis O’Neil, 92, a former resident of Columbia Falls, died Jan. 31, 2013.

He was born to Clinton Dewitt and Emma Engeman O’Neil in Kalispell on June 17, 1920.

During World War II, he enlisted in the Navy and served in Hawaii and as a Lt. J.G. ship’s officer in the South Pacific. After the war, he earned a master’s in history at the University of Montana.

Carle returned to Kalispell as the juvenile probation officer and served as a representative in the Legislature. He went to the University of California and obtained a master’s in social work with a criminology emphasis.

In 1962, he married Apgar native Joyce Rowland and adopted her two children, Anne and Bobby.

Upon retirement in 1973, he returned to the Flathead Valley and became a partner in Western Building Center, after taking over and developing the Columbia Falls store. He published “Two Men of Demersville” in 1990, “Muscle, Grit and Big Dreams” in 1996 and “The Mystery of Marias Pass” in 1998.

He is survived by his daughter Anne Brown; nieces Willa Johns, of Spokane, and Bobbie Truckner, of Kalispell; nephews Chip O’Neil, of Portland, Tom O’Neil, of Florida, Jerry O’Neil, of Columbia Falls, and Mike O’Neil, of Kalispell; members of Joyce’s family; and numerous other cousins, nieces and nephews.

A celebration of Carle’s life will take place in the Buffalo Room of the Buffalo Hill Terrace on Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013, at 1 p.m. with a reception to follow.