Mary O'neill, Green Lake grocer who helped start senior center

Mary O'Neill, blessed with twinkling eyes and a distinctive giggle, left a lasting mark on Seattle's Green Lake neighborhood.

For nearly 30 years, Mrs. O'Neill and her husband owned a mom-and-pop grocery at the corner of North 66th Street and Fremont Avenue North. The business was known for its competitive prices and friendly service.

In fact, customers often became personal friends.

"She loved everybody, and everybody loved her," says husband Ed O'Neill.

Mrs. O'Neill died Friday (Jan. 7) of complications from cancer. She was 87.

Born in Vancouver, B.C., Mrs. O'Neill lived in Comox along the Campbell River in British Columbia, where her father worked in the lumber camps. They also lived on a 160-acre farm in Langley, B.C., where her family raised cows and chickens.

After finishing school, Mrs. O'Neill worked in a sugar factory. Her first date with Ed was to a church social.

After two years, the couple married and moved to Snoqualmie Falls, where their children were born. The O'Neills moved back to Vancouver for a few years to be near family, then finally settled in Seattle.

About 1948, they started O'Neill's Grocery, where the motto was, "Quality is a must and service is a pleasure."

Mrs. O'Neill ran the register and handled the books. Her husband was the butcher and ordered stock. Their children helped in the store, and the family lived in an apartment above. Eventually, the store was expanded to supermarket size, then sold in the mid-1970s.

The O'Neills were married 65 years. In retirement, the Catholic couple helped found the St. John Parish Leisure Timers for retirees and organized trips to the Holy Land, Europe and Hawaii. Mrs. O'Neill is remembered for once performing the hula on a flight to Hawaii.

She and her husband also helped start the Greenwood Senior Center, for which they received an award.

Mrs. O'Neill taught her children to have full confidence in her and she treated them the same, said her husband. The kids never got in trouble, even in the '60s, which were "kind of tough times for kids getting ideas of their own," Ed O'Neill said.

As a grandmother, Mrs. O'Neill always had a baby in her arms at family functions. On walks with grandchildren around Green Lake, she often managed to find a four-leaf clover, thanks supposedly to her "Irish luck."

She was thrifty and very direct, in a nice way, says her family.

"I think my Mom was a simple person in a lot of ways. She didn't require expensive things. She didn't really care for that. She did enjoy being with people," said her daughter Maureen Sovar of Shoreline.

Also surviving are daughter Margaret Moser of Lake Oswego, Ore.; son James O'Neill of Everett, 12 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by son Daniel and brothers Father James, Ed and John Masse.

A funeral Mass was held today.

Remembrances can be made to the St. Vincent de Paul Society of St. Alphonsus Parish, 5816 15th Ave. N.W., Seattle, WA 98107.

Marsha King's phone: 206-464-2232. Her e-mail: mking@seattletimes.co.