Dennis Keith O'Neill

Graveside services are 11 a.m. Thursday at Lone Mountain Cemetery in Carson City for Gardnerville resident Maj. Dennis Keith O'Neill, who died Dec. 22, 2010, at Carson Tahoe Hospital.

Born on Oct. 9, 1939, as Dennis Keith Fitzgibbon to Lola May (Woodward) and Edmund Henry Fitzgibbon in Albany, Calif., he was renamed after his father died and his mother remarried Edward O'Neill.

He attended the University of Hawaii, Manoa, and graduated from San Jose State University with a bachelor's degree in political science and a master's degree in public administration. He received his Juris Doctorate from Lincoln University Law School in San Jose.

As a pilot and battalion commander in the U.S. Army, Maj. O'Neill led a tactical air assault helicopter squadron in the 173rd Airborne Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, Dak To, Republic of South Vietnam. He was awarded the Bronze Star, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, and Purple Heart. The government of New Zealand honored him with the Victoria Cross.

He was district circulation manager of the San Jose Mercury News. For a brief time, he worked for the public defender's office of Santa Clara County. After moving to Lake Tahoe in 1983 he was a casino host and later hotel investigator at the High Sierra Resort. He worked at the Carson Valley Inn, and was a substitute teacher with the Douglas County School District.

He is preceded in death by his parents and former wife, Diane Friesen.

He is survived by his wife Martha; children Kathryn and Michael of Gardnerville; son Daniel and daughter Colleen O'Neill-Schleich of California; sister Patricia (Jack) Reilly; brother Michael (Karen) O'Neill and brother Tom (Sandy) O'Neill of California; two grandchildren, two nephews and numerous cousins.

Arrangements are being made through Autumn Funerals and Cremations, Carson City.

The family requests donations be made to the Salvation Army.