Mason Jeffrey Neal

Mason Jeffrey Neal of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, died on September 17, 2026. He was 23. A funeral home notice from McCabe Funeral Home remembered a young Marine Corps veteran, rail and construction worker, hunter, and friend who packed a full life into a short span of years.

Born on May 5, 2003, Mason was the son of Jeffrey Scott Neal and Beth Meehan Neal. He was a brother, by blood and by choice, to Adison John Neal, Andrew Scott Neal, Ben David McConnaughey, and Alex Brian Gaffney, and he leaves behind his grandfather Terry Neal Sr. He was preceded in death by paternal grandmother Sharon Neal, maternal grandparents John and Nancy Meehan, and chosen brother Sean McConnaughey. The language of chosen family in his obituary underscored how widely he was claimed by friends as well as by blood relatives.

Mason graduated from Punxsutawney Area School District in 2021. At commencement he arrived just in time to stand proudly in muddy Muck Boots when students planning to enter the military were asked to rise - a detail the funeral home used to capture both his humor and his sense of commitment. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in October 2021, completed basic training at Parris Island on January 6, 2022, served in Okinawa, Japan, and was discharged as a corporal in spring 2025.

After returning home he worked at Eagle Railcar Services, earned the training needed for a commercial driver's license, and most recently worked for Parking Lot Painting in DuBois, Pennsylvania. Away from work he loved hunting, fishing, shooting, fireworks, strong flavored foods, and his cats Big Show and Meatball. Friends said he had a strong desire to live life to the fullest. The obituary summarized that spirit in a line that has become his epitaph elsewhere on this page: he may not have had a lot of years, but he had a lot of life in those years.

In lieu of flowers, the family invited memorial gifts to the Wounded Warrior Project, reflecting Mason's Marine service and the causes connected to it. Arrangements were entrusted to McCabe Funeral Home at 114 Maple Avenue in Punxsutawney. This page records the public facts of his birth, service, work, family, and death so that people who knew him - and people who only meet him here - can light a candle in his memory.

Mason Jeffrey Neal's life, as told by those who arranged his funeral notice, is the story of a Punxsutawney graduate who kept a promise to serve, came home to work with his hands, and filled his free hours with outdoors, friends, and cats. He died far too young at 23 on September 17, 2026, and is remembered as a corporal, a brother, a friend, and a young man who lived hard and loved hard in the time he had.