Mrs. Opal Dorothy Merkey Floyd, 84, of Newalla, Oklahoma, passed away March 8, 2018. Mrs. Floyd was born on December 31, 1933, in Cloud Chief, OK, to Pearl R. and Vinnie Andrews Merkey. She was one of 15 children. After graduating from Lake Valley High School, Opal attended McPherson College in McPherson, Kansas. While in Kansas, she met William (Bill) Floyd. They moved to Oklahoma City in the early 1960s.
In 1963, Opal attended cosmetology school, and was a hairdresser from that point. She always carried scissors with her and cut all her nieces’ and nephews’ hair whenever there was a get-together. In the early 1970s, Bill and Opal purchased a house on two acres in Newalla. They added a room for her beauty shop, where she continued to be a hair stylist until she broke her hip in November 2017.
After being alone for several years after Bill’s death in 1993, she met Ronald “Sonny” Dean Watkins. They shared almost 20 years together until he passed in 2017.
Opal never met a stranger and always made everyone feel good. Because of her outgoing and loving nature, she was a natural salesperson. She started selling Shaklee vitamins in the 1970s and Tiara glassware in the 1980s. She won several trips, one to Germany, as a result of her salesmanship.
She was also preceded in death by her parents, 4 sisters and 8 brothers. Her survivors include two brothers: Andrew of Salt Lake City, UT, and Charles of Cordell, OK, stepson Eric Watkins, of Crescent, Oregon, and a host of cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.
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