Beulah Mae O'Neal, 82, a longtime resident of Bridgehampton who, with her husband, William Samuel O'Neal, reared seven children in that hamlet, died on Dec. 12 at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital from complications of Covid-19.
Born on April 29, 1938, in Aurora, N.C., Mrs. O'Neal was the daughter of Hazel Battle and the former Vivian Inez Clark. She graduated in 1956 from S.W. Snowden High School in Aurora, and was married in 1957.
"Oh, yeah," said one of her sons, Louis, "she was a strong woman. She and our father first came to Bridgehampton as migrant workers. We settled here permanently in 1968, first on Butter Lane, and then on Huntington Crossway."
"She worked for the Halsey family, Ray Halsey, at the Green Thumb farm in Water Mill for well over 20 years," he said. "They were very, very kind to her. She worked there up until her late 70s. I once asked her why she didn't get into secretarial work or something like that, and she told me work was work -- she was happy working outside and not having to put with a lot of nonsense in an office."
"Many will remember her kindness and friendly smile and 'tell it like it is' attitude," Mr. O'Neal's wife, Tina, wrote in an email. "She enjoyed the outdoors -- she always had her hand in and around plantings, flowers, fruit, and vegetables. . . . To say she was a good cook is an understatement."
In May 2012, Mrs. O'Neal was honored as the Mother of the Triune Baptist Church in Sag Harbor.
She is survived by five of her seven children. Besides Louis O'Neal, who lives in East Hampton, they are Sam O'Neal of Hampton Bays, Teresa O'Neal of Bridgehampton, Cynthia O'Neal of Brooklyn, and Brontie O'Neal of Riverhead. Two sons, Patrick and Jeffrey, died before her, as did her husband.
Five siblings survive as well: Chester Acklin of St. Louis, Deloris Clark of Aurora, N.C., Tommy Clark, also of Aurora, Hal Alfred of Brooklyn, and Curtis Clark of Bridgehampton. Three sisters, Peggy Smith, Patricia Bryant, and Dorothy Clark, died before her, as did a brother, Willie Clark Jr., and a granddaughter, Delonda Myers.
Also among the survivors are her grandchildren Raymond Gilliam III, Michelle Gilliam, Tashara Gramby, Samantha O'Neal, Myra O'Neal, Raya O'Neal, and Daquan Eleazer, as well as a special friend who the family said was "like a sister," Pearl Coffey, and numerous great-grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.
Funeral services were held at the Brockett Funeral Home in Southampton on Dec. 15, the Rev. Henry Faison Jr. of the First Baptist Church of Southampton officiating. Burial took place the next day at Edgewood Cemetery in Bridgehampton.
