Opal Faye Shorter Kirtley was born to Bartie "Lee" and Lottie Marie Shorter, on  September 13, 1935, in Canton, Oklahoma. On Monday, September 16, 2019, she opened  her eyes and saw her Savior, Jesus Christ. She made the decision to follow Christ  when she was 13 and continued to trust him through the many hardships over her  lifetime. She was a member of Smithville Baptist Church when she went home to be  with the Lord.     At the age of 16, she married Thurman Kirtley, and they began a journey together  that spanned seven decades. This adventure fulfilled her childhood dream of becoming  a wife and eventually a mother to four busy sons.  She found her greatest joy in  raising those sons, who gave her 12 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren; a  couple of the grandchildren, she & Thurman raised as their own. Her last 10 years  were spent alongside her husband on 113 acres in Muldoon, Texas, where they raised  beef cattle, chickens, dogs and spent lots of joyful time together gardening and  canning the fruits of their labor.     Opal is preceded in death by her parents Lee and Lottie Shorter, 5 of her 6  siblings, her husband Thurman Wayne Kirtley, sons Philip Eugene Kirtley and Mark  Steven Kirtley. Her death is mourned, even as her life is celebrated by her family,  sister Elsie Beard, son Michael Kirtley and wife Kim, son Alan Kirtley and wife  Kristine, daughters in law Connie Kirtley and Stephanie Kirtley. Grandchildren PJ  Kirtley and wife Karen, Darrel Kirtley and wife Tiffany, Beth Kirtley Zindler and  husband Aaron, Jennifer Kirtley Cooley and husband Bobby, Julie Kirtley Gruss and  husband Andrew, Ryan Kirtley, Mason Kirtley, Jake Kirtley, Kolbee Kirtley, Madison  Kirtley, Dalaney Kirtley, and Logan Kirtley. Great grandchildren Kylee Kirtley, Luke  Kirtley, Payton Kirtley, Taylor Kirtley, Chance Kirtley, Avery Zindler, Charlie  Cooley, Kayden Kirtley, Chandler Mae Cooley, Henley Zindler, Chapman Cooley, and Leo  Gruss, along with countless other family members and friends, all of whom she made  feel like family.