Edith Midgett O’Neal beloved and oft quoted mother and grandmother of Ocracoke and Rodanthe, N.C., was called home on May 15.
Born on April 21, 1937, she was a daughter of the late Jethro and Leone Midgett, and was raised with her sister Mary, and brother’s Bill and George in Rodanthe, Dare County.
She attended 11th grade in Ocracoke but graduated from Hatteras/ Buxton School in 1953 with honors.
She met her husband John Puet O’Neal while Jethro was stationed as Coast Guard chief in Ocracoke. They were married in 1956 in Manteo and remained quite the couple for 33 years until John passed in 1999.
Edith was a proud member of Ocracoke United Methodist Church, Rodanthe’s Fairview Methodist Church and Order of Eastern Star.
She was an even prouder mother of Richard O’Neal and grandmother to Caroline and Lilianne.
Edith loved to travel. She and John P. would often take road trips anywhere from Maine to Florida, all the places in between and wherever their son may have ended up.
After John died, she visited the Holy Land, Hawaii, Prince Edward Island, and would often set of on adventures stateside, with her buddy Maxine Mason.
Edith loved word puzzles, reading the Bible and her Upper Rooms, but most of all she loved to stay busy. Whether she was keeping her home straight, or working in the yard, moving dirt from one place to another, or at her home away from home the Variety Store.
Edith was a fixture at the Variety Store for over 30 years, where she made fresh coffee every morning, kept those T-shirts folded, souvenirs inventoried and made sure the gossip was as fresh as the coffee. She loved the owners Julia, Hutch and Tommy, like family, and manager Mauro like another son. She took immense pride in her job and the store gave her community and purpose.
She had a work ethic like no other and was forever getting “straightened out,” one of the many Edith-isms passed around our house.
Her granddaughters remember her love of Carmelo bars and hard candy, eclectic clothing style, lots of Variety store T-shirts, her collection of ducks, lighthouses, Outer Banks memorabilia and book collection with fondness.
She always had her fridge and shelves stocked with their favorites just in case they came over. They also remember her fierce devotion, willingness to go wherever and whenever called to help with family.
Granny was always asking what they needed, then trying to give them everything she had whether they wanted it or not, just cause “You don’t never know.”
Edith will be remembered for many other reasons too numerous to list.
Those left to cherish the memories include her son, Richard O’Neal, his wife Rebecca Ashford, and daughters Caroline and Lilianne O’Neal; her brother George Midgett; nephew Jamie Midgett; sister Jennifer Fitzsimmons and their families; nieces Teresa Boykin and Katie Midgett; great niece Mary Christine Poyner and their families; nephew David Styron his wife Kari and their family; nephew and nieces Gerald Gaskins, Jennifer Fraker, Claire Allen and Cindy Gaskins and many other nieces, nephews, cousins, friends of the family and people of Ocracoke, Rodanthe and the Outer Banks.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. May 28 in the Ocracoke United Methodist Church. In lieu of flowers donations, can be made to OUMC, P.O. Box 278, Ocracoke, NC 27960, with special consideration for WNC Relief Fund, remembering all the help Mom and others received in their time of need following Hurricane Dorian.