Toni Pieper

Toni Pieper, age 68 of Charles City, died Friday, December 30, 2022, peacefully at her home. A memorial service / celebration of life will be held at a later date. Hugeback-Johnson Funeral Home & Crematory in New Hampton have been entrusted with arrangements. Toni was born on Sept. 1, 1954, to Ray and Hildamae (Mitchner) Steward in Auburn, a small city in northeast Indiana, where she started her education before her family moved to Charles City when her dad got a job at the Oliver tractor plant. While she received much of her education in Charles City, the family moved to Hopkins, Minnesota, and Toni graduated from Charles Lindbergh High School in 1972. After graduation, she attended North Iowa Area Community College for a semester or two and then enlisted in the Navy, serving her country from 1972 to 1976 mainly stationed at the Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia. While in the service, she met Stephen Acord, and were married on February 15, 1975, in Memphis, Tennessee. Over the course of the next 3 years, they had two sons together, Joseph (b.1976), and James (b.1978). The Acords would then relocate to the Twin Cities area in Minnesota, where they raised their two sons and she worked at American Family Insurance for a number of years, mostly handling claims pertaining to natural disasters. After the couple divorced in the mid 1990s, Toni moved back home to Charles City, where she worked as a home-health aide for the Floyd County Public Health Department. The move back to Charles City also allowed her to meet Bob Pieper, and the two hit it off almost immediately, and the couple was eventually got married on July 18, 1998, on the seventh hole at Charles City’s Wildwood Golf Course, a location that was very important to both of them as they spent much time there golfing and playing in several tournaments there. Toni loved sports and was active in many during her life, including coaching her son’s little teams, playing on numerous company golf teams, watching her great nephews and nieces play youth sports in Charles City, and attending many of her granddaughter's volleyball tournaments in Oklahoma. She enjoyed watching sports, including her favorite team, the Minnesota Vikings. She also was a lover of music, enjoying the classics with her favorite genre (60’s). Her go-to singer on her playlist was Frank Sinatra, in which she live life to the fullest and she did it as his lyrics stated and “she did it her way”. After she retired from Public Health, she became an active volunteer with the Foster Grandparents program where Toni not only spent time with the kids and teachers at Washington Elementary in Charles City, but also was a member of the program’s Advisory Board. She had a special knack for reaching kids who were going through tough times, and in 2019, she was honored as the Foster Grandparent of the Year. She was humbled by this honor, but was proud of the work not only she had done for the program, but the work and impact her father (Ray) also had for the program. Toni had an affinity for cats — Herme and Violet were beloved by her — but what made her so special was that she cherished all her relationships with others — from her siblings to her sons to her grandchild to her nephew to her great-nieces and great-nephews. She may not have been the tallest person in the world, but she stood tall when it came to helping others. This feisty, loving woman who had a passion for making everyone’s lives better will be dearly missed by all who had the good fortune of having their lives touched by Toni. Toni is survived by her two sons, Joseph (Stephanie) Acord and James Acord, both of Oklahoma City; her step-children, Jodi, Diana, Joe and Mike of California; her granddaughter, Courtney Acord; her sister, Amy (Randy) Caster of Charles City; her nephew, Brent (Briana) Steward; and many great-nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, Ray and Hildamae Steward; her two husbands, Stephen Acord and Bob Pieper; and her brother, Patrick Steward. 641-394-4334