According to her obituary, published in the Times and Democrat of Orangeburg, South Carolina, Edith Clarice Brabham O'Neal was born on January 31, 1913 in Bamberg, South Carolina to Angus McKay Brabham and Edith Rice Brabham. She died on December 3, 2006 in Columbus, Georgia. She graduated from Bamberg High School in 1930, attended Duke University and graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1934. In 1939 she married Robert Emmett O'Neal, who died February 17, 2004. He worked for the Social Security Administration and in 1945 was named manager of the Columbus, Georgia Social Security Office. During their years of living in Columbus, Mrs. O'Neal taught at Gentian, Morningside and Rigdon Road elementary schools after beginning her career as the librarian at 45th Street Elementary. For more than 60 years the O'Neals were member of St. Luke United Methodist Church, and for years she delivered meals to shut-ins through St. Luke's H.E.L.P. program. She was a champion of women's equality and in 1996 was honored as an Honorary Lifetime Member in the AAUW for her 50-year commitment to the advancement of education and equity for women and girls. She was among the founders of the Columbus Audubon Society and the Columbus Genealogical Society. She was an early supporter of the Historic Columbus Foundation, the Columbus Art Museum and the Christian Fellowship Association, and was actively involved in the Boxwood Garden Club, the Huguenot Society and the Oglethorpe Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.