Tonya Horton

HORTON- Tonya Horton-Fox passed away at her home on February 2, 2011. Tonya was born in Albuquerque on May 13, 1941 of Nyles Morris Jr. and Virginia Morris (now Virginia Hall) and was a life long resident of Albuquerque and Cedar Crest, New Mexico. She earned a Master of Fine Arts Degree from the University of New Mexico in 1987. Tonya was employed as an Administrative Assistant and Laboratory Technician at the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute in Albuquerque for twenty plus years. Tonya is survived by her loving husband, James Fox, also an employee of the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute. The couple had a 27 year relationship and enjoyed camping; collecting herbs and traveling together. Tonya is also survived by her son, Zar Horton, serving in Albuquerque Fire Department in his twenty-second year and currently as a Battalion Commander. Tonya’s son, Ziak Horton, passed away at the family’s Cedar Crest home in 1998 at twenty years of age. Tonya’s brother, Phillip Morris, is an engineer employed by the Albuquerque Water Authority. Tonya had a sister, Sharon Morris, who died at the age of 18 months in 1944. Tonya’s mother, Virginia Hall, age 90 and her stepfather, Charles Hall, are residents of San Angelo Texas. Tonya’s grandchildren are Zane Horton, age ten; Jade Horton, age twenty, an engineering student at the New Mexico Technical Institute of Mining and Technology; and Kyle York, age twenty, of Colorado Springs and a philosophy and literature student at the University of Colorado at Denver. Tonya had a love and passion for studying and creating works of art, book collecting, gardening, and collecting and growing herbs. She had an extensive and rare book collection and was a student of the use of herbs for medicinal use. She was a graduate of the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine. Tonya’s last work was in the media of sculpture where she utilized the structure of crystalline copper through the process of electroforming to create her amazingly beautiful life-sized sculptures. These were the focus of her busts, masks and full sized sculptures featured in her Master of Fine Arts show in 1987. A Graveside Service will be held at 11:00 a.m. Friday, February 4, 2011 at Fairview Memorial Park. Tonya’s care has been entrusted to:
Daniels Family Funeral Services
1100 Coal Ave SE
Albuquerque, NM 87106
505-842-8800