Opal Belle Carrington, 100, of Portsmouth, passed away on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at Hill View in Portsmouth. She was born to the late Elmer and Louella Meadows Taylor on June 14, 1926, in Scott Depot, WV.
A graduate of Winfield (WV) High School, she had attended the First Church of the Nazarene in Portsmouth.
Opal married Wilburn Asa Carrington on February 14, 1947, in Dayton, and the couple had been married for 61 years when he died on March 27, 2008. Along with her husband, she owned the former Wil-Car Enterprises for 35 years.
Opal and Wilburn started Service Distributors, a health and beauty aids wholesale business, in Portsmouth, Ohio in 1952, which eventually grew to include 29 owned and franchised general merchandise retail stores called Sundry Stores. In 1954, they started a music media rack-jobbing service named Dayton Record Services, supplying records and tapes to stores in four states. In 1976, they purchased the Ohio Valley Wholesale Company, expanding products supplied to convenience stores, gas stations, and other stores with candy, tobacco products, general merchandise, and equipment. In 1986, total employment exceeded 350 people located in four states.
Surviving Opal is her brother and sister-in-law, Joseph and Linda Taylor of Stout.
In addition to her husband and parents, Opal was preceded in death by one brother, James Taylor, and four sisters, Nelle Preston, Alice Titus, Mae McDonald and Beulah Horton.
Private funeral services will be held under the direction of the Ralph F. Scott Funeral Home in Portsmouth with Pastor Raymond Lewis officiating. Interment will follow in Friendship Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be sent to SOMC Hospice, at 2201 25th Street, Portsmouth, OH 45662.
Online condolences may be shared with the family at RalphFScott.com.
