Earl O’Neal Jr. in May 2012 when he was honored during the annual British Cemetery Ceremony for his continued research on the history of the Outer Banks. Photo: C. Leinbach

Information updated.

A celebration of life service for island historian and raconteur Earl O’Neal Jr., 87, who died May 26 in the McCall Hospice House, Simpsonville, S.C., will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Ocracoke United Methodist Church, followed by a meal in the church’s adjacent recreation hall.

Both island pastors, Richard Bryant and Ivey Belch, will lead the service.

A career engineer in the nuclear energy industry, O’Neal’s island roots on his father’s side go back to the early 1700s and include many original Ocracoke families.

In his retirement on Ocracoke, he devoted himself to chronicling family genealogies and history, from the island banker ponies to all of the historic points along the Outer Banks.

To read O’Neal’s full obituary, click here.

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