Fern June "Toni" Hughes

FERN JUNE "TONI" HUGHES Memorial services will be held for longtime Cortez resident Fern June "Toni" Hughes at 2:00 p.m. Monday, May 11, at Ertel Funeral Home in Cortez. Father Andrew Cooley and Pastor Anthony Maez will co-officiate. Interment will follow at Cortez Cemetery. Toni was born on June 9th, 1923 in Arriola, CO, the daughter of Hugh "Bo" and Dolly Magarrell. She passed away in the evening of Thursday, May 7, 2009 at Southwest Memorial Hospital in Cortez, surrounded by her family, at the age of 85. On December 9th, 1938, Toni was married to Bryan Simmons in Monticello, UT and together they had four children and then were divorced in 1962. Toni married to Robert Dale Hughes on December 24th, 1969 at the First Southern Baptist Church in Cortez. After his death in 1987, she married to Carl Simpson in the fall of 1989, and widowed a second time in December of 2005. She worked as the Office Manager for the Dolores Medical Group (Cortez Branch) for 21 years, but her family always was her priority. She belonged to the First Southern Baptist Church of Cortez and St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Durango, and was a woman of strong faith. Toni had a passion for hosting large family gatherings at her home in Cortez and loved to travel with her family and friends. For the last 23 years, after her retirement, she spent the winters in Phoenix where she enjoyed being a member of the Ladies Red Hat Club. She was also known in the community for her famous sugar cookies. Surviving Toni are two children, Kay "Kasey" Bryan Simmons of Albuquerque, NM and Judy F. Simmons of Durango. Toni has four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Toni was preceded into death by her parents, all three of her husbands, her brothers Walter Peel, and Frank Peel; sisters, Nona Fowler, Maggie Kellerman, Sadie Scharnhorst, and Dolly Jane Magarrell; and two infant sons, Tommy Joe Simmons, Jackie Bo Simmons. Memorial contributions can be made in Toni's name to St. Mark's Episcopal Church's Youth Ministry. Services are under the direction of Ertel Funeral Home and a public viewing for all friends and family will be held on Monday, May 11 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Ertel Memorial Chapel.