La Palma Community Volunteer Dies of Heart Failure at 46

Services will be held today for Christine O’Neal, a longtime community volunteer and housewife, who died of congestive heart failure. She was 46.

The Long Beach native devoted more than 12 years to volunteering at her children’s schools and participating in other community groups in La Palma, where she lived since 1977 with her sons and husband, Brian O’Neal.

She received a number of awards for her community service, including the 1992 Woman of the Year by the state’s 71st Assembly District, a certificate for community service from the U.S. Congress in 1993 and the Americana Citizen of the Year from La Palma.

She was born in Long Beach and attended schools there and in Santa Monica and graduated from UC Santa Barbara with honors in 1971. She earned her teaching credential one year later.

In 1972, she married Brian O’Neal and moved to the San Fernando Valley. She began working as a police dispatcher in 1981 and often worked graveyard shifts to spend more time volunteering during the day, family members said.

She had been battling cancer since 1993 and died July 13 at UCLA Medical Center of heart complications stemming from the cancer.

She is survived by her husband, Brian; sons Scott and Eric; mother Joann Baird of Morgan Hill, and sister Diane Kimes, also of Morgan Hill.

Memorial services will be held at 7 p.m. at the Lakewood First Presbyterian Church, 3955 Studebaker Road, Long Beach.

In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that donations be made to the American Cancer Society or the American Heart Assn.