Antoinette "Tony" Parker Ackel, daughter of Walter Winfred and Modelle Margaret Jobes Parker, was born September 7, 1929, in Johnson City, Texas, and entered the Great Beyond on August 31, 2025 in Fredericksburg TX.

Services will be Saturday August 6, 2025 at 2:00p.m.in the 1st Presbyterian Church of Harper with burial in the historic Noxville Cemetery near her home.

Visitation will take place on Friday September 5, 2025 from 5p.m.-7p.m. in Fredericksburg Funeral Home

Tony grew up on Little Devil's River on the heritage Parker Ranch in Kimble County founded in 1874 by her ancestors. She was raised with her two brothers, Walter, Jr. and Joe, in the Noxville Community west of Harper in Kimble County, and it was there she began her riding career. Under the tutelage of her Dad, she learned to ride and help on the ranch.

After graduating from Harper High School, she enrolled in Sul Ross State University in Alpine, taking along her meager possession of her Dad's World War I trunk, a few jeans and her boots.

She received a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1952 and completed a Masters of Education in Guidance and Counseling in 1968 from SRSU. During her remarkable career, Tony worked as a consultant and counselor in Special Education and was also a Specialist for Region XV Service Center in Midland, Texas. She was a Life Member of Texas State Teachers Association and N. E. A., and her professional organizations included Kappa Delta Pi, Phi Delta Kappa, Council for Exceptional Children, and Permian Basis Guidance Association.

She began her remarkable rodeo career during High School and continued

participation in College rodeos. Tony was a lifetime member of Sul Ross Alumni Association, A. N. R. S., and S.R. Rodeo Exes. She was honored as an inductee into the Sul Ross Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2005 and was a longtime member of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association Alumni. She was featured in Life Magazine, The Houston Chronicle, and The Beaumont Enterprise and other publications.

After retiring as an educator, Tony returned to the Parker Ranch in Kimble County that her father, Walter W. Parker, and her grandfather, James Henry Parker, had owned.

Her Texas heritage is deeply rooted, as her paternal grandmother, Matilda Jane Crockett Parker, was a great-niece of David Crockett, who was a famed hunter, scout, soldier and Congressman. He died March 6, 1836, at the Battle of the Alamo.

Tony married Johnny Ackel in 1951 in Harper, and were parents of one son, John Cody Ackel.

She is survived by her son Cody Ackel and wife Connie of Harper, brother Walter W. Parker Jr. and wife Raquel of Kerrville, grandchildren Tara Ryno, Duston Haggerton and Blake Haggerton, nephews Jim and Winn Parker, Chris and Eddie Parker.

She is preceded in death by her parents Walter W. Parker Sr. and Modelle Jobes Parker, brother Joe Parker and sister-in-law Joan Parker.

Pallbearers will be Chris Parker, Edward Parker, Winn Parker, Sean Parker, Colton Parker, and Duston Haggerton.

Honorary Pallbearers are. Jim Parker, Dennis Armstrong, Blake Haggerton and her Trail Ride Buddies

Memorials may be made to First Presbyterian Church of Harper, Noxville Cemetery.