EDWARD ISSA ACKALL

Fort Worth, Texas - Edward, Ed, Eddie, Dad, Grandpa, Seedo, Ammo Issa Ackall died on Thursday June 22nd. He was 86 years old-born in Ramallah Palestine on…..well that’s an interesting story. For the longest time he thought his birthday was August 21^st as written in the family bible. He was the seventh of eight children so birthdates were not necessarily a high priority. More recently while sitting around with his sister, he discovered his actual birthday was August 4^th, 1936 but rather the 21^st was when he was presented to the church and thus recorded in the family bible. His parents were Olga and Issa Ackall. He grew up surrounded by not only his immediate family but extended relatives-aunts, uncles and cousins-all living together as a community. He did very well at a Quaker school in all subject areas to include English. His older brothers made sure that every evening they would hold “study hall” whereby all the siblings would do school work and tutor each other. His teachers saw such potential in him that they encouraged him to go to college in the States. He had an uncle-Uncle Mousa who lived in Lexington Kentucky that sponsored him to come to the US to attend “university”. He arrived two weeks late for the beginning of the semester at Transylvania University.  He jumped right in taking classes. One of his first classes was chemistry and his lab partner was a blonde hair, blue eyed girl from Chicago who flirted with him by squirting water at him with their wash bottles. That woman would go on to be the love of his life-Gail Wagoner. Their courtship was the first and only serious relationship for both of them. They learned about each other’s cultures and were married shortly after dad graduated on June 14^th, 1958 in Chicago. He began his career at US Steel as a chemist in Gary Indiana. Later went to work for Leco in St. Joseph Michigan and eventually relocated to El Paso TX working at Dickinson’s lab analyzing coal and culminated his career at Phelps Dodge analyzing copper.

After retirement, the decision was made to move where the kids/grandkids were-Fort Worth, TX. They made that move in May of 2001.  They found a church home at University Christian Church and specifically the Logos class. Mom and Dad’s favorite pastime was traveling. They saw much of the world on all sorts of adventures and loved every minute of it.

Dad paid it forward by bringing three nieces from Ramallah to live with them at various points in their lives-Serene, Ghada and Betty Ann to get a good education in the States.   

Dad was preceded in death by his wife of 60 years-Gail Wagoner Ackall. His remaining family are his children-Diane Hawley (Bobby), Denise Rhodes (Jay) and David Ackall (Danyelle). His cherished grandchildren are Alicia Hawley-Bernardez, Kelsey and Noah Hawley, Stewart and Liam Rhodes and Malcolm Keenan. One exceptional great granddaughter is Tenley Hawley-Bernardez that will always have a portion of his heart. He has two remaining sisters-Alice Jadallah and Maurika Chahade and a special sister-in-law Huda Ackall and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

The family would like to give a special thanks to Adam Monstaader from Community Hospice.

A Celebration of His Life will be at 10 am Saturday, August 5, in the Sanctuary at University Christian Church, 2701 S. University Drive, Fort Worth.

To honor Ed's life, memorial contributions may be made to the
Christian Church Foundation, P.O. Box 1007 Indianapolis, IN 46206, for the Edward and Gail Ackall Permanent Fund
OR
Transylvania University, 300 N. Broadway, Lexington, KY  40508, for the Edward Ackall Endowed Scholarship Fund.