Francis McNeila, pressman for Bulletin and then Inquirer

Francis X. McNeila, 81, of Somers Point, N.J., a former pressman for the Bulletin and then for The Inquirer, died of metastatic liver cancer on Sunday, Feb. 8, at a daughter's home in Egg Harbor Township, N.J.

After he retired, Mr. McNeila was a Eucharistic minister, distributing Communion at St. Joseph Church in Somers Point.

"He would also distribute Communion to patients at Shore Medical Center" in Somers Point who couldn't get to Mass, said a daughter, Frances Ryder.

"He did genuinely feel it was important that people maintain their faith, even when they were sick," she said.

And so, when asked, he went to the homes of ailing folks, to share the sacrament.

"It was comforting to people who can't get out," she said, and "to folks who are bringing it to them."

Christopher Tomasello recalled that Mr. McNeila was "a kind soul, always looking for the best in others."

Tomasello, of Egg Harbor Township, is New Jersey state roundtable chairman of the Knights of Columbus, of which Mr. McNeila was a member.

At the Mey House, a retirement home now known as Somers Place in Egg Harbor Township, "he used to ... give Communion to those who were bedridden" at least once a week.

Said Tomasello: "A true gentleman."

Mr. McNeila grew up near 55th Street and Greenway Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia, attended West Catholic High School for Boys, and served as an Air Force maintenance engineer from 1952 to 1956, for a time in South Korea.

Soon after being honorably discharged, he joined the Evening Bulletin, where his father, Michael, worked as a pressman, maintaining the presses that produced the newspaper.

After the Bulletin closed in January 1982, Mr. McNeila took the same sort of job at The Inquirer, from which he retired in the late 1990s.

Besides his daughter, Mr. McNeila is survived by daughter Kathleen Merryfield, stepson James Davis, stepdaughters Gail Davis and Mary DeFalco, 13 grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by wife Patricia and son Michael.

A viewing was set for 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12, at the George H. Wimberg Funeral Home, 1707 New Rd., Linwood, N.J. A second viewing was set for 10 to 11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 13, at St. Joseph Church, 606 Shore Rd., Somers Point, N.J. 08244, before an 11 a.m. Funeral Mass there.

Donations may be sent to the church at the above address.

Condolences may be offered to the family at http://ghwimberg.com.