Volunteer school bus driver and Air Force veteran William “Billy” O’Neal was memorialized during funeral services Thursday in El Reno, Okla. He was interred with military honors at the El Reno Cemetery. He was 67.
O’Neal was a substitute driver who volunteered for the Maple Public School district in Calumet, about 30 miles west of Oklahoma City. He perished May 31 in the second deadly tornado to hit Oklahoma in a week and a half. The second tornado had a damage rating of EF-5 and measured 2.6 miles wide — the widest on record, according to the National Weather Service.
Maple Schools Superintendent Art Eccard told STN that O’Neal was driving on Highway 81 from Union City north to El Reno as the tornado moved east. The tornado flipped his car six times.
O’Neal proudly served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War. He was a retired federal corrections officer at the medium-security facility in El Reno. He had driven for Maple Public School for the past five years.
Eccard added that “Billy,” as he was called, especially enjoyed driving his grandson’s field trips. He also loved to hunt and fish with all of his grandchildren (see above photo).
O’Neal was born March 9, 1946, in Clinton to parents Leroy and Edith Marie O’Neal, according to his obituary. He graduated from El Reno High School in 1965 and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Central State University. He married Connie Griggs on Jan. 21, 1969.
In addition to Connie, O’Neal is survived by daughter Kellie Hill and husband, Brian of El Reno; son Joe O’Neal of Phoenix; sisters Peggy Sigman of Yukon, Mary Taylor and Terry Fletcher of Enid, Okla.; brothers Wesley O’Neal of Oklahoma City, Pete O’Neal of Mustang, Jimmy O’Neal of El Reno and Johnny O’Neal of Enid. He is also survived by four grandchildren.
Jose Bonilla, his granddaughter’s fiancé, accompanied him on the fateful drive May 31 to eat out in Chickasha and wait out the storm. O’Neal died of multiple blunt force trauma after the EF-5 tornado picked up his car and rolled it 150 to 200 yards. Bonilla survived and worked to help another driver who also succumbed to blunt force injuries minutes later.
According to Bonilla, O’Neal showed his concern for others even in his final moments. He let other drivers at a four-way stop travel east, away from the tornado, waiting patiently and waving the line of cars through before finally turning east himself, Bonilla recalled. O’Neal remained calm even as he told Bonilla it looked like they were driving right into the looming tornado.
“You could see we were in the tornado, because … all the debris in front of us was in a circle motion. The only thing he said to me was, ‘Do you have your seat belt on?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, do you?’ and he said, ‘Yeah,’” Bonilla told NewsOK.
After poles along the road started falling over, they braked to a stop along with other vehicles.
“The hail started coming down, windows were cracking … The last thing I said was, ‘Close your eyes!’ and then all the windows blew out. We started rolling,” Bonilla said. “It was like slow motion.”
O’Neal’s car ended up on a different road, right side up on the tires, with its engine landing nearby. Family members recall O’Neal successfully escaping storms in the past.
“He told me he’s done this his whole life,” Bonilla said. “If a tornado was coming, a storm was getting bad, him and the wife would load up and just drive around it, just go out to a town away from it, get something to eat … just hang out for awhile and then come back.”
