Ten years of love

Tony and Lisa Easterling honor the memory of their daughter by giving back

Tony and Lisa Easterling were enjoying a vacation when tragedy struck. While Tony was deep sea fishing, Lisa, who was 24 weeks pregnant at the time, went into early labor. When Tony arrived at the local hospital, the doctor pulled him aside and shared devastating news: Their baby wasn’t going to make it.

Years after the loss of their daughter, Brooke, Tony began a career with Love’s Travel Stops and Country Stores, a Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals® partner. As general manager, he led the fundraising efforts for his store in Hillsboro, Texas. Tony said fundraising for children, like Brooke, has helped the couple cope with their grief over time.

“It gave me an outlet,” Tony said. “Lisa and I say, ‘If what we do saves a life, then it’s more than worth it.’”

Once, at a fundraising event hosted by Tony’s store, a woman asked him what was going on. When he told her they were raising money for Cook Children’s, Tony’s purpose came full circle.

“She looked like she had been struck,” Tony said. “She pointed and said, ‘That’s my daughter over there … she was born at a local hospital with two collapsed lungs. They transported her to Cook Children’s and the doctors there saved her life.’”

“That’s our ‘why,’” Tony said. “Even if we never know that it’s happened, I want to know that our involvement has saved a life.”

In addition to fundraising events held at the store and donations made at the register, Tony and Lisa raised funds when they created the Hillsboro Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Golf Tournament. Tony decided to keep the tournament going even after he made a career change and left his position with Love’s.

“I feared that the fundraising wouldn’t keep going, and that the golf tournament would stop,” Tony said. “I couldn’t allow that to happen.”

In 2022, the Easterling family celebrated the 10th anniversary of the golf tournament and a record-breaking donation of $31,500 to Cook Children’s. Now a two-day event, the tournament continues to grow in size and support, including sponsors, like Hill Plumbing, that come back year after year.

For Tony and Lisa, the tournament is an opportunity to see old friends and celebrate the generosity of their community. It’s an opportunity for their two adult children, Jordan and Jared, to return home and honor Brooke’s memory. And it’s an opportunity to change the lives of families just like theirs.

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