In the 1930s, after many years of struggle, trained pharmacist J.R. O’Neal became a small pharmacy proprietor. The building situated on Main Street in the tiny capital of the British Virgin Islands was opposite the family home and his father’s general store. From that foundation, JR, as he became known, built a widely diversified business with his wife Marie.
Their enterprises spanned everything from hardware and construction materials, fuel distribution, auto-dealerships, rock crushing and shipping, all while investing in real estate, acquiring parcels in the town and also in the countryside.