Thanks to Nancy Skakel for providing this obituary.
Charles L. Neil
Charles L. Neil, 92, died of a stroke, Feb. 28, 1996, in Jackson, Miss.Until last June, he lived at St. Joseph’s in Ojai.
Known to hundreds of former students, he taught French, Latin, and Spanish at Nordhoff High School in Ojai from 1952 until he retired in 1965.
He was a rigorous and demanding teacher of language who had a deep influence upon his students.“Much to the distress of some of the parents in the Valley, he would fail g good students who weren’t doing their work, but he would also allow chalk–eraser fights in the classroom,” one of his former students said.
Another student, who, like many of his students became a life-long friend, said, “Sometimes I would laugh at his criticisms and get a kick out of his protests and his allowing me to laugh at him.But I have been very much swayed by the examples of discipline and honesty he set in his own life.”
Mr. Neil kept in touch with many of his former students, some for more than 70 years.He held a B.A. from Monmouth College in Illinois, and a M.A. from Columbia University in New York, and taught at Sparta High School in Illinois; Ecole Normandie in Amiens, France; Culver Military Academy, Indiana; Pillsbury Military Academy, Minnesota; Monmouth College, Indiana; and Nordhoff High School.After retirement, he taught Latin and English at the Novitiate of St. John of God at ST. Joseph’s in Ojai, and French at Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka, Alaska, and at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss.
He was a U.S. intelligence officer during World War II, acting as liaison with the French Resistance, and investigating war crimes at the end of the war.He served the Military Intelligence Corp, the Seventh CorpsHeadquarters at Braemore House, England; the O.S.S. Special Services in London; he was attached to the Third Army at Normandy, France, and ended his military involvement at Nancy, France.He later transferred to Counter Intelligence in Lyons, and Troyce, France, where he investigated war crimes.He was then sent as Vice-Consul to Geneva, Switzerland, to open a slot for the O.S.S., the precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency.
Mr. Neil was a world-traveler, making his first trip to Europe in 1921.In 1928, he traveled by freighter to Japan. He continued to travel well into his 90’s.
He anonymously sponsored several young people through college.He admired Thoreau, Tolstoy, and Gandhi, and tried to live according to their principles.
A native of Ava, Illinois, Mr. Neil is survived by a sister, Dorothy Luchers of Bloomington, Ill.; a brother and sister-in-law, Fred and Virginia Neil of Jackson, Miss; and several nieces and nephews.
A memorial service, conducted by Father Sebastian Ward, will be held at St. Joseph’s in Ojai, Saturday, March 23, at 4 p.m., followed by a potluck food and drinks.
Thank you for providing Mr Neils obituary. I took Latin from him one year. I wasn't one of the better students in the class but he made a big impression on me enough so that I remember him clearly after all of this time.
One day after some of us students were acting up, he quoted a verse out of the Bible "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?" Matthew 5:13. Being a very refined person this was his way of telling us to sit down and be quiet.
My experience with Mr Neil was not my favorite memory but it was hardly his fault. I took 1st year Latin and enjoyed it. Hearing that he was planning on retiring, I went on to French. Well, I could read and write it but basically "refused" to speak it--languages (English included) are not my favorite subject and I rarely ever spoke up in any class. So he finally suggested after a few weeks that I drop the class. As is so often the case, I am sorry I didn't get to know him better.
I remember Mr Neil very well. After I transferred to Nordhoff in my sophomore year he made me meet with him before school to work on the gaps in what I had learned at my previous school and what he was teaching in his class. ( I would have rather been down at "the rock" smoking and joking)
My previous French teacher had also been OSS during the war and pronunciation was a big thing. He insisted that we all sound like native speakers. Mr Neil was impressed with that. His interest in me encouraged my study of French all through High School and College. I can still manage a movie in French, but when I try to speak it, it all comes out Spanish.
Richard Norton
Thank you for providing Mr Neils obituary. I took Latin from him one year. I wasn't one of the better students in the class but he made a big impression on me enough so that I remember him clearly after all of this time.One day after some of us students were acting up, he quoted a verse out of the Bible "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?" Matthew 5:13. Being a very refined person this was his way of telling us to sit down and be quiet.
Sandy Asp (Marble)
My experience with Mr Neil was not my favorite memory but it was hardly his fault. I took 1st year Latin and enjoyed it. Hearing that he was planning on retiring, I went on to French. Well, I could read and write it but basically "refused" to speak it--languages (English included) are not my favorite subject and I rarely ever spoke up in any class. So he finally suggested after a few weeks that I drop the class. As is so often the case, I am sorry I didn't get to know him better.Dennis Wallace
I remember Mr Neil very well. After I transferred to Nordhoff in my sophomore year he made me meet with him before school to work on the gaps in what I had learned at my previous school and what he was teaching in his class. ( I would have rather been down at "the rock" smoking and joking)My previous French teacher had also been OSS during the war and pronunciation was a big thing. He insisted that we all sound like native speakers. Mr Neil was impressed with that. His interest in me encouraged my study of French all through High School and College. I can still manage a movie in French, but when I try to speak it, it all comes out Spanish.