Stacy Panfil-Parsley ’93

When Stacy Panfil-Parsley ’93 was in fourth grade she told her friend Ramona, “When I grow up I am going to live by the water, marry a man who loves children, and teach kindergarten so I can coach gymnastics in the afternoons.”

Fast forward 31 years and Panfil-Parsley lives at Lake Tyler, is married to a man who just so happens to love children, and coaches gymnastics.

After graduating from Cornell, Stacy moved to Tyler, Texas, and secured a teaching position. Since it was summer, she filled her days coaching gymnastics and quickly realized that was her real passion—so she resigned her teaching job.

Panfil-Parsley and her husband, Martin, own and operate Texas East Gymnastics, founded by his parents 42 years ago. The gym has produced numerous state and regional champions, college scholarship recipients, USA National Team Members, and a competitor in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Trials. Most recently, the gym and coaching staff was ranked by MeetScoresOnline.com as the sixth most successful overall competitive gymnastics facility in the United States, and third most successful on the women’s competitive side.

“The passion I saw and felt from my professors at Cornell inspired me to find a career that I absolutely could not live without,” she says. “When I met Martin, the passion was there. Add a little, OK, a lot, of hard work, love and trust and you’re ranked as one of the best in the nation.”