After a friendship of sixty years, Kristen Widham sadly reported that Ilse Acosta Parker passed away on Friday, February 13, 2026, from brain cancer in her homeland Costa Rica.. She was a loyal supporter of Mount Holyoke. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to MHC. 

“The eldest of five, she lived her early life in the heart of San José, Costa Rica, among a vibrant community of family and friends. She attended Colegio Nuestra Señora del Sion and then the University of Costa Rica. Because of her academic excellence, she was awarded a scholarship to attend Mount Holyoke College. She graduated from MHC in 1969, the first woman in her family to receive a college degree. She returned to Costa Rica where she worked in the UCR Department of Psychology. In 1970 she married Lance T. Parker, who survives, in San José. They moved to Houston, Texas, in 1975, where she raised her family and resided until December 2025, when she suddenly became ill.”

https://www.waldmanfuneralcare.com/obituaries/ilse-acosta-parker