Oneita Grimes Harrell

Mrs. Oneita Grimes Harrell, age 96, of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, passed away Monday, July 28, 2025 in Destin. She was born in Coffee County, Alabama to parents, Mary Etta Qualls Grimes and Clemmie Oree Grimes.

Oneita and Cecil married and worked alongside one another on the farm for the first eight years of their marriage before moving to Fort Walton Beach, where they raised their children and lived out their lives together. 

Hospitality and service to others were Oneita’s true gifts. She worked twenty-eight years in school food service. Entertaining family and friends in her home brought her much happiness. She is remembered as a loving wife, mother and grandmother who enjoyed doing things for her grands and staying active in their lives. Oneita came to know the Lord as a young married adult and was a member of Blue Springs Baptist Church in Opp. After moving to Florida, she joined Ocean City Baptist Church and later Wright Baptist Church, where Cecil was a deacon and for many years she served as the church hostess. 

Mrs. Harrell is survived by her daughters, Patricia Harrell Chandler and husband, Ben, and Rhonda Harrell Nelson and husband, Don; grandchildren, Dana Lloyd and Paul, Casey Nelson and Emily, Christie Wheatley and Andrew, David Chandler, and Matthew Nelson and Laura; fourteen grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews. Along with her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband of sixty-two years, Cecil Harrell; brothers, Thelma Grimes, Leron Grimes and Rex Grimes; and sisters, Aline Howard, Nadine McCall and Edna Griffin.

Funeral services for Mrs. Oneita Grimes Harrell will be held at 2:00 p.m., Sunday, August 3, 2025 at Wyatt Funeral Home Chapel in Opp, Alabama with burial following in Peaceful Acres Memorial Gardens. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service. Dr. Ben Chandler, Major Chaplain Matt Nelson and Rev. Casey Nelson will be officiating with David Chandler, David Nelson, Ethan Nelson, Isaac Nelson, Mason Wheatley, Paul Lloyd, Caleb Nelson and Cameron Nelson serving as pallbearers.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Wright Baptist Church, 795 Beal Pkwy Northwest, Fort Walton Beach, Florida 32547 (www.wrightbaptist.org) or Gideons International, P.O. Box 140800, Nashville, Tennessee (www.gideons.org).