Donna O'neil:
CLASS OF 1963
Herbert Hoover High SchoolClass of 1963
Glendale, CA
Donna's Story
Wanting to get ahead of myself in high school, I married Lee O'Neil (Hoover, Class of 60) in November of 61. In February of 1962, I left my family and friends and joined Lee in Sasebo, Japan, where he was serving in the Marine Corps.
Those were the days of "Camelot", John F. Kennedy was president and Viet Nam was not yet a police action. We did have the CIA and trainers there and VietNamese Marines were arriving in Sasebo for training as well. The dollar was worth 360 yen.
Our first child, a daughter, was born in July, 1962 while we were stationed in Japan. Having a child and living on a foreign economy quickly caught up with me. The elements were harsh, the houses far less comfortable than anywhere I lived before or after, and we lacked many of the conveniences that are taken for granted in our every day lives in the States. We attended the Marine Corps Ball, weathered typhoons, and waited out the Cuban Missle Crisis while we were there. Lee answered Kennedy's call for fitness and did a 50 mile day hike to Nagasaki. We made friends from all over the US and had many Japanese national friends. Yet, we watched thousands of people march on May Day chanting "Yankee, Go Home".
We came home to Glendale in November of 1963: the week that Kennedy was assasinated.
We lived in Glendale for a few years while we started jobs, went back to school, and had another child. In the fall of 1965 our second daughter was born. That was a very hot summer, the summer of the Watts riots. We bought a 1964 VW Sundial Van right after our daughter's birth and spent weekends heading down to Dana Point and an old surf spot south of there called Salt Creek. It has since been developed and I think the 4 Seasons Hotel was built there.
My first job was working as a telephone operator for Pacific Telephone on South Brand Street. It was early 1964. I remember that there was an alert at the phone company one night when I was working. The NAACP was expected to march in Glendale in protest of policies that I understand were observed. Evidently, it was the custom that any person of color was ...Expand for more
not welcome to live there at the time. Although allowed to work, it was understood that they were to leave by sundown. I was told that there were actually "sundowner laws", but I never verified that information.
We lived for a time in a duplex on Glenoaks Blvd. near the Burbank line. In 1969 we moved to Saugus where we purchased our first home under the GI Bill. Our son was born in 1974. Lee was heavily involved in surfing by then, and we spent most of our weekends driving to a surf spot at the Ventura County Line. Finally, it made sense to just move where we could be close to the beach all the time. Thus, we moved to Ventura in November of 1975 and have been here since. It was the right move for us.
I attended Glendale, College of the Canyons and Ventura College. Upon completion at Ventura College, I completed a two year paralegal program through UCSB and my Real Estate Broker courses through USC Extension. Although I did work for an appellate law firm in Ventura, my longtime vocation has been real estate. Lee attended College of the Canyons and before real estate, was a contractor installing underground utilities.
Lee and I worked for large firms in the Ventura area for many years, but last year decided to work independently. We formed O'Neil & O'Neil Realtors, have adopted green business practices, and find we have far less wasted time. (Visit our website if you wish to learn more, MoveVentura.com.)
Now our kids are grown, our oldest daughter is in software, our youngest daughter is a tv commercial producer, and our son works in the non-profit field. They are all married and thriving. We have 3 granddaughters and one grandson (our daughters' children). The grandchildren are a joy that we could never have expected.
We consider ourselves environmentalists, trying to pay attention to our footprint. Mostly, though, we love natural beauty and try to find as much of it as we can. It's not hard to do living in Ventura with the Ojai, Sespe and Channel Islands surrounding us. We like to hike, walk at the beach reguarly, and just enjoy all there is.
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