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Nancy Kaia Tracy, a host to her Old La Honda Road neighbors in Woodside, an artist and an enthusiastic backpacker, has died.
Go to tinyurl.com/ybula47c for details on a memorial set for 2 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 4, in Huddart Park at 1100 Kings Mountain Road in Woodside.
She died at home in the company of her family on June 23 at the age of 85.
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 pets, a place for a quick cup of tea, lunch on the patio, or dinner with homemade dessert and open to whoever stopped by.
Ms. Tracy was welcoming to new neighbors and celebrated milestones for neighborhood families, and the Tracys were known for their potluck Fourth of July celebrations.
After her children left home, Ms. Tracy revisited her artistic interests and found work as a graphic designer. She took art classes at Canada College and eventually took up painting and drawing with Woodside artists Ann Hogle and Kit Colman and the Woodside Plein Air Painters.
Her sense of aesthetics was noticeable in her home’s decor and in little things such as how she wrapped gifts. “She loved anything to do with arts and culture,” her daughter-in-law Jessica Rose-Tracy said. The opera and museums in San Francisco and at Stanford were favorites, she said.
The couple took annual backpacking trips, even with children in diapers. When guests came along, Ms. Tracy was known to slow down and walk with them so as to create an enjoyable experience despite heavy packs and long hikes, to share food and stories and build memorable experiences together “amidst the backdrop of nature’s solitude,” Ms. Rose-Tracy said.
“Nancy was an incredible wife, mother, neighbor, friend and Nana and her loss is felt deeply by her family and community,” she said. “She led her family with strength and an optimistic and positive attitude second to none.”
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.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the PEO Foundation and mail c/o John Tracy at 10410 Ann Arbor Ave., Cupertino CA 95014.
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By Dave Boyce
By Dave Boyce
By Dave Boyce
