Tonieta "Toni" Moore-Welchel

Tonieta Gail Welchel (“Toni”) was born in Oklahoma City on August 4, 1941. After a short battle with cancer, she passed from this earth and went home with the Lord on May 8, 2020. Toni attended Capitol Hill HS and later graduated from the Dallas Institute of Funeral Service. She worked many years as a funeral director and more recently as a teaching assistant with Moore Public Schools.

Toni was a wonderful cook and enjoyed cooking, especially baking, for family and friends. Holidays and birthday dinners were always full of love, laughter, and oh so many homemade pies! Anyone who attended was well loved – and well fed. It was her trademark and we loved her for it.

Family meant everything to Toni and, as she would say, she loved them more than life itself. Her children Tommy, Kim, and Greg were the great loves of her life. She care for and worried over them in the best, most precious way that only a mom could. It was a gift and we will miss her calls, texts, and “check-ins” more than we ever thought possible (especially during tornado season)!

The only people to rival the affections of her children were her seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. In fact, those who knew and loved her most called her Gigi. “Angel Baby,” “Sweet Precious Baby Boy,” “Little Darlin,” and “Sweetheart” were all terms of affection that that Gigi called the little ones. The legacy she leaves them is one of incredible kindness and grace. She was generous with her time and affection and with Gigi, there was no doubt about it – you knew you were loved. She was funny (mostly without trying), sometimes ‘over the top’ (with her rhinestones and big sunglasses), and Gigi was always – compassionate, loving to a fault, and dressed to impress! She was the best – the gold star standard as far as grandmothers go.

Toni had a beautiful voice and she used it in service to God, singing in the church choir and a ladies trio – the Gospel Treble Tones – for many years. Her love for the Lord and desire to follow Him was always on display. She leaves us with a great peace and knowledge that we will see her again. Thank you God for her beautiful life and thank you for letting us be a part of it. Till we meet again, “We rise up and call you blessed!” Proverbs 31:28.

Toni was preceded in death by her parents Henry and Floy Hunter and Dixie and JD Moore, siblings Carolyn Woodard, Pamela Jones and John Moore, and is survived by siblings Bill Hunter, Rita Turner and Derek Moore, her cousin and best friend Barbara Jackson, children Thomas Welchel Jr. and Jottie, Kimberli Cissell and David, Greg Welchel and Misha, grandchildren Maclain Cosby, Michael Cosby and Jenny, Zachary Cissell, Jacob Cissell, Olivia Welchel, Graham Welchel, Lucy Sylvester, and great grandchildren Chloe, Madison, Bella, Austin, Brianna, and Maslyn.

---