Lionel W. Heal, service and obituary

Mon, 06/20/2022 - 3:00pm

A graveside celebration of life for Lionel William Heal, 89, formerly of Glen Cove, who passed away on January 27, 2022, will be held Thursday, July 7, 2022, at 10 a.m., at The South Parish Cemetery, Ridge Road, Martinsville.

To share a memory or condolence with Lionel’s family, please visit their Book of Memories at www.bchfh.com.

 

COATESVILLE, Pennsylvania — Lionel William Heal, 89, formerly of Glen Cove, passed away peacefully at home in Pennsylvania on January 27, 2022, with his daughter, Heidi, by his side.

Born in Rockland, April 21, 1932, he was the son of William and Alma Seavey Heal of Port Clyde. After graduating from St. George High School in 1950, Lionel attended Northeastern University in Boston for one year before being called to serve his country in Korea. He served in Korea from 1952 to 1954, first as a combat infantryman with the 2nd Infantry Division of the United States Army, and later as a military police officer.

After returning from Korea, he completed his degree at the University of Maine at Orono, graduating with a B.S. in Forestry in 1958. Lionel spent six years as a deputy with the Knox County Sheriff’s Department before turning to a career in education. For thirteen years, he was employed at Cushing Consolidated School and St. George Elementary, first as a teacher, then as a principal. In 1968, he was one of twenty individuals awarded a fellowship which allowed him to earn a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Maine.

In 1978, Lionel became the manager at Port Clyde Foods, Inc., and he managed several seafood processing facilities over the next seven years. Eventually, his many years as a volunteer at the Owls Head Transportation Museum led to him becoming the Plant and Facility Manager, and later the Conservator of Automobiles, at the museum. Lionel had a passion for antique cars and trucks, and he loved his work restoring and maintaining them at the museum. He retired in 2001.

In 1965, Lionel married his high school sweetheart, Joyce Barnes. Together, they owned and operated the Rockland Motel in Glen Cove for many years before moving to their lifetime home on Warrenton Street in Glen Cove in 1976. After they retired, they spent their winters enjoying the warm and sunny weather in Dunedin, Florida, returning to their beloved home in Glen Cove each summer.

In 2014, they sold their home in Maine and moved to the Philadelphia area to be nearer Heidi and her family. After Joyce passed away in 2018, Lionel continued to live at his home in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, until the pandemic began. He moved in with Heidi and her family in 2020, spending many fun nights playing Uno with his grandsons and watching Lawrence Welk reruns, Antiques Roadshow, and the Maine Cabin Masters program with Heidi.

Lionel was proud to be a member of the Korean War Veterans Association, a lifetime member of the Owls Head Transportation Museum, and a lifetime member of Ocean View Grange in Martinsville.

In addition to his daughter, Heidi Heal Bonner and her husband, Tom, and their sons, Michael, Aidan, and Matthew; Lionel is survived by his stepson, Mark Runius and his wife Lauri, and their children, Benjamin and Meghan and families. He also shared a close relationship with his wife’s nephew, David Andrews, and with his cousins, Andrea and Wendi Harford.

A committal service will be held in Maine this summer.

To share a memory or condolence with Lionel’s family, please visit their Book of Memories at www.bchfh.com.

Arrangements are in the care of Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock Street, Rockland.