Onyx Childs Sellers Merritt, 101, of Tallahassee, Florida, stepped over into the Promised Land on July 12, 2019. She was ready to meet her Lord and Savior, and to rejoin her loved ones who passed before her. She was a member of Lakeview Baptist Church for 78 years.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Jessie F. Childs, Sr. and Maggie Mims Childs; by her first husband, Willie “Bill” Sellers; her second husband, Gordon L. Merritt, Sr.; her son, William Earnest Sellers; half-brother, Luther Childs, and half-sister, Aldia Tew; her stepdaughter, Janie Merritt Brannon; granddaughter, Debbie West; and great-grandson, Dakota Bullard.
She is survived by her daughter, Sandra Sellers Kennedy; her brother, Jessie Franklin Childs (Sandra Ann); Stepchildren Lou Merritt (Jane), Betty Brazelton, and Donald Merritt (Tommie Ann); her grandchildren Rachel Kennedy Shelnutt (David), Clay Kennedy (Natalie), Chris Kennedy (Tonya), Stephanie Sellers, Billy Sellers, and Scott Sellers; great-grandchildren, Taylor Doran, Brett Bullard, Jordan Hamer Bradford (Chris), Casey Shelnutt (Keli), Courtney Kennedy, Noah Kennedy, Cade and Cole Bryant, and great-great-grandchildren, Bryson and Khyler Bradford and Kennedy Shelnutt.
Onyx was born at home in Smyrna, Alabama, on June 7, 1918. Her father was a carpenter, and the family moved to a house he built for them in Geneva, Alabama when she was a child. They moved to Tallahassee when she was 16. She retired as a Clerk in the Florida Department of Agriculture, Pesticides Division. One of her favorite things was working in her yard, and she couldn’t pass a weed without stopping to pull it out.
Visitation will be held at Lakeview Baptist Church in Tallahassee on Saturday, July 20, at 1:00 p.m. with funeral service following at 2:00 p.m. Culley’s Meadowood Funeral Home is handling the service.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials be made to Lakeview Baptist Church, 222 W. 7th Avenue, Tallahassee FL 32303.
A very special thank you to the caring people of Amedysis Hospice, who showed so much kindness and compassion during their time with our loved one.
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