Rhonda Kay Laird, 60, passed away peacefully, surrounded by her children, on August 7th, 2017. Rhonda was born on March 18th, 1957 in Ponca City, Oklahoma, to Richard Deaton and Donna (Jones) Deaton. Rhonda was the second born child of the six children of the Deaton family. An avid member of Putnam City Baptist Church throughout her life, her children also attended the church through the span of their youths. While she had a strong devotion to the church, the Lord, and her career, it is safe to say that the most she devoted herself to was to her children. Whenever someone asked her about her life, and how she felt, the woman almost immediately started talking about her kids. About their lives, and what their hopes and dreams were. And that was who she was to the very core; her children's pain and happiness was her own, as if her very essence was based upon the fact that her children just simply smiled. Rhonda was a local realtor for many years, building a respectable name for herself due to her kindness and her hard-working ethic. She was with Keller Williams for many years before transitioning over to Metro First. Her other job that she equally excelled at, was motherhood and making sure her family was still taken care of. Like how she raised her children to be, Rhonda, too, was Sooner Born and Sooner bred. If you were not wearing red and white on Game Day, you can rest assured knowing that Rhonda would definitely bring up the subject. Rhonda proudly saw two of her sons through the University of Oklahoma, and upon graduation, she would always possess the loudest whistle and the most enthusiastic cheer. Unfortunately, she would be consistantly overruled on the party hats and the fireworks. There was never a day that Rhonda Laird would turn down Mexican food, or a nice rare t-bone steak. She always had such a good humor at everyone's jests, the center of it being her small stature always able to eat more steak than her own sons. There was never a day that she would not laugh, flashing her beautiful smile and rubbing her hands together with that constantly mischevious look upon her face. And there was never a day that she would not defend her family to anything life happened to throw at them. Rhonda was a mother to more than just her own blood. Rhonda was a mother to many, always keeping her door open for those in times of sorrow or need. It would not be an unusual site to have a friend of her children sitting at the dinner table at three in the morning, sick or devastated with no one to turn to. And it would not be an unusual site for her to be making them soup, talking with her children and their friends until the orange hues in the sky would start to signal the arrival of morning. A shelter and a home is more than just a an area where one lives; it can be a person. And to many, Rhonda was their shelter, guide, friend, and mother. So with the deepest sadness in our hearts, we say goodbye to a woman who was so much more than the category of mother. We say goodbye to a woman whose very essence was tied to those around her. We say goodbye to a lighthouse among the dark times. 'After the last scene of my life flashed before me, I looked back at the footprints in the sand. I noticed that at many times along the path of my life, especially at the very lowest and saddest times, there was only one set of footprints He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you Never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, It was then that I carried you." Excerpt from 'Footprints in the Sand' Dedicated to a woman who always carried us. Rhonda Kay Laird is survived by Steven Laird, her husband; her sons, Ryan and his wife Lauren, Andrew, and Miles; her daughters, Courtney, Katie and her wife Jenny; her parents, Richard and Donna Deaton; her brothers, Gerald Deaton, Mark Deaton, Mike Deaton, and Daryl Deaton; and sister, Brenda Fenn. Funeral Service Friday, August 11, 2017 01:00 PM Putnam City Baptist Church Annex ,