A Mass of Christian Burial for Missionary of the Precious Blood Father William O’Neill, 81, was held at St. Charles Center in Carthagena, July 31.

A funeral Mass was also held July 27 in the Chapel of St. Thomas College in St. Paul, MN. Father O’Neill died unexpectedly of natural causes at his home in St. Paul July 23.

A native of Wisconsin, he entered the Society in 1940 and was ordained in 1952.

After his ordination he served as an assistant pastor at St. James the Less Church in Columbus until he joined the U.S. Air Force as a chaplain in 1956, serving a four-year tour at bases in the United States and overseas.

He held three doctoral and five master’s degrees in psychology and special education. From 1965 to 1974 Father O’Neill taught at Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Ind., and Calumet College of St. Joseph in Whiting, Ind. In 1974 he joined the faculty of St. Thomas College in St. Paul, Minn., where he remained for over 20 years. While at St. Thomas he also served in parish ministry at St. Clement Church in Minneapolis.

He was also a spiritual advisor and advocate for the disabled. He organized retreats for the disabled and for their caretakers. He worked with the parishes to make religious education programs more accessible to those with disabilities. He received many honors for his work with the disabled, including the Social Justice Disability Award from Catholic Charities.

He retired from St. Thomas in 1993, but continued his work with the disabled and also compiled scholarly bibliographies on the lives of mystics St. Theresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. He retired to St. Charles Center in Carthagena, in 2002 but returned to St. Paul in 2005.

He is survived by three brothers, John of Dubuque, Iowa; Robert of Janesville, WI.; and Gerald of Wisconsin Rapids, WI.; and two sisters Marietta Halpin of Prairie du Chien, WI.; Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Catherine O’Neill, of Lacrosse, WI.

Burial was in the Community Cemetery at St. Charles Center.

George ‘Skip’ Prosser

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated July 31 for George "Skip" Prosser of Winston-Salem, N.C., 56, former basketball coach at Xavier University in Cincinnati, at Holy Family Church in Clemmons, N.C. He died July 26 of a heart attack after jogging at Wake Forest University, where he was currently head coach.

Prosser was hired as an assistant coach at Xavier in 1985 and left to coach Loyola University in Maryland in 1993. He returned as Xavier’s head coach in 1994 and remained until 2001, when he left for Wake Forest. His record at Xavier was 148-65. His career record was 291-146. He was Atlantic Coast Conference coach of the year in 2003 and is the only coach to lead three different schools to the NCAA Tournament in his first season at each school.

Prosser earned a nautical science degree from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in 1970 and later graduated from West Virginia with a master’s degree in secondary education. He taught history before becoming a basketball coach.

He is survived by his wife, Nancy; two sons, Scott of Wheeling, Va., and Mark of Lewisburg, Pa; his mother, Laura Jo Prosser; and his sister, Cindy Gross, of St. Clairville, Ohio.

Interment was Aug. 4 in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati.