Nancy Kaia Tracy, a host to her Old La Honda Road neighbors in Woodside, an artist and an enthusiastic backpacker, died at home June 23 at age 85.
Go to tinyurl.com/ybula47c for details on a memorial set for 2 p.m. Friday, Aug. 4, in Huddart Park at 1100 Kings Mountain Road in Woodside.
A native of Illinois, Nancy Anderson graduated from Northwestern University with a bachelor’s degree in education. She was teaching in California when she met Rufus Avery Tracy III, the man who was to become her husband, at a dance at Stanford University.
They married in 1957 and built a home in Woodside. Mr. Tracy managed The Old Barrel liquor store in Palo Alto. Ms. Tracy was a substitute teacher in Portola Valley when her children were young, and later taught preschool in Ladera.
The couple’s house became a gathering center for visitors, exchange students and neighbors.
After her children left home, Ms. Tracy revisited her artistic interests and found work as a graphic designer. She eventually took up painting and drawing with Woodside artists Ann Hogle and Kit Colman and the Woodside Plein Air Painters.
Ms. Tracy is survived by her husband Rufus of Woodside; daughters Jane of Woodside and Sara of Boise, Idaho; son John of Cupertino; and seven grandchildren.
The family suggests memorial donations to the PEO Foundation, c/o John Tracy, 10410 Ann Arbor Ave., Cupertino CA 95014.
Go to is.gd/Tracy23 to see the family’s memorial on Lasting Memories.
