Toni was born in Austin, Texas on September 5, 1963, the eldest daughter of Sammy and Brenda Oates. She grew up in Austin where she attended Texas School for the Deaf. She had a lot of adventures in water, was a good swimmer and water skier. She also was a baton twirler and marched in the Austin Aqua Festival a couple of times. In 1977, at 13 years old, she went to the Deaf Olympics in Romania as a swimmer and brought home two gold and one bronze medal.
Toni was preceded in death by her father, Sammy Oates.
She is survived by six children, Jessica, Jennifer, Fletch, Kathi Kuehne, Travis and Sami Jo Oates; mother, Brenda Oates; sister, Jodi Oates and Deb Kuglitsch; brother, Sammy Jr. Oates and Priscilla Schultz; Kyle Koch, significant other of Kathi’s.
Celebration of Life Service will be held at 4:00 p.m., Friday, June 1, 2012 in the Chapel of Cook-Walden/Forest Oaks Funeral Home.
The family would like to send heartfelt thanks to Heart to Heart Hospice, Texas Oncology Center and St. David Hospital in Austin for their loving care.
In lieu of flowers, the family would like contributions to be made in Toni’s memory to the Bank of America, Toni Oates Memorial Fund.
