Willie May Floyd

Willie May Phillips Floyd, 79, of Glen Rose, AR, passed away peacefully and surrounded by her family on October 11, 2026, in Norman, Oklahoma.

Willie May was born on July 15, 1947 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, to Guy and Evelyn Rodgers Phillips and grew up in Toledo, Arkansas. She graduated at the top of her class from Rison High School in 1965 and attended Arkansas A&M College (now the University of Arkansas at Monticello), from which she graduated a semester early at the end of 1968. While attending A&M, she met Jimmy Floyd at Missionary Baptist Student Fellowship, and they were married in January 1969. After stops in Georgia, Florida, and Hawaii while Jimmy was in the Navy, they settled down at Jimmy’s childhood home in Glen Rose. She spent most of the last eight years of her life in Norman, Oklahoma, happily spoiling her grandchildren rotten.

She taught an untold number of students Math and French at junior high and high schools in Pine Bluff, Georgia, and Florida, and at Glen Rose, Benton, Woodlawn, and Harmony Grove High Schools over a career that spanned more than four decades. When Mary was born, she took a break from teaching for nine years until Royce started kindergarten. During that time she was a great pre-K teacher and all-around fantastic mom to Mary and Royce and helped Jimmy run Fairplay Community Market and their small cattle farm.

Willie May loved Jesus all her life and was a dedicated member of Fairplay Missionary Baptist Church for over forty years and attended Redeemer Church in Norman. She loved to sing in the choir, organize Vacation Bible School, and be a part of whatever was going on. She was famous for her pecan and coconut pies and was expected to make them for every church fellowship. She loved to spend time with her family—from her kids, grandkids, and siblings to both her and Jimmy’s distant cousins—and watch her children, nephews, nieces, and grandchildren play sports and perform. She was an amazing grandmother, mother, wife, sister, aunt, and friend, and she is already greatly missed.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 35 years, James “Jimmy” Floyd, her brother Michael Phillips, and her parents. She is survived by her daughter Mary Ward and her husband Dustin of Glen Rose; son Royce Floyd, his wife Molly, and their children James, Margaret, and Violet of Norman, OK; brothers Jim (Ruth), John (Christine), and Roy Phillips; sister Lucille Strawn, all of Toledo, and many nephews, nieces, cousins, and friends.

A visitation will be held at Smith Benton Funeral home in Benton, AR, from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 15, 2026, and a funeral service will be held at Fairplay Missionary Baptist Church in Benton, AR on Friday, October 16, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. with burial to follow in Fairplay Cemetery.

Services entrusted to Smith-Benton Funeral Home.  Online guestbook:  www.SmithFamilyCares.com.