Vicky Jean Popel, 69, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, passed away Sunday, August 31, 2026, at INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City.

She was born July 1, 1957, in Bellflower, California, to Roy Leon Moore and Betty Lou (Jones) Moore. She married Gary Leroy Popel on December 7, 1981, in Orange County, California.

Vicky earned her real estate license and worked alongside Gary in the family's business ventures early on — everything from a secondhand store to a baseball card shop to furniture stores — before the family settled back in Oklahoma. She graduated nursing school in 1995 and spent the next thirty years in hospitals, assisted living centers, and home health. She found her true calling teaching — short-term health programs and medical assisting at Canadian Valley Career Tech, with a stretch of teaching CNA courses in California along the way. She spent her last working years at Dr. Jason Myers' optometry office and retired in 2025.

Vicky was a member of The Well Church Mustang, and was very fond of her church family. She grew up near the ocean and rivers and never lost her love of the water — her favorite trips were down to Gulf Shores with her best friend. She loved fishing, camping, and anything nautical: seafoam green, sea turtles, starfish, shells. She loved cooking big meals for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, and it didn't matter to her if the table was full or just a few — she wanted her family around it. She made friends everywhere she went and kept them for decades. She never met a stranger.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Roy Leon Moore and Betty Lou Moore, and Gary Leroy Popel.

She is survived by her daughters, Stephany Ann Hearne and her husband Matthew Lewis Hearne, and Ryeli Beth Suhani Whitehead and her husband Ryne Whitehead; grandson Joseph Dean Case and his wife, Chaynan Moss, of Kamiah, Idaho; great-grandchildren Trynity Jean Case and Thomas Dean Case; her stepmother, Helen Moore; her brother, Rick Moore, and his wife, Cindy; nieces and nephews Crystal and Mark Kraft and their daughters, Kirsten and Keira, and Joel Moore and his children, Aidan, Tristan, and Elizabeth; Candy and Kelly Dacus, and their children Salier and Andrew; Marti Burton and her children, Kelsey and Gabe; her dog, Jasmine "Jazzy" Popel; and many cousins and friends who considered her family.

The viewing will be held Friday, September 11, from 9 am to 8 pm, with family present from 7 to 8 pm, at Mercer-Adams Funeral Home, and is open to all. Interment will follow Saturday, September 12, at 10 am at Yukon Cemetery, for a small family gathering. A larger celebration of life will be held in November; details to follow. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in memory of Vicky to The Well Church Mustang, or to your local animal shelter or rescue.