Obituary: Mary Tracy, 101, of Scottville.

Mary Tracy

Obituary: Mary Tracy, 101, of Scottville.

Mary Margaret Tracy, 101, of Scottville, passed from this life August 21 at Porter Hills Health Center in Grand Rapids.  Mary was born June 17, 1916 in Virginia, Minnesota to George and Anna (Brandstetter) Despres.

She grew up in Manistee, going to St. Mary’s Catholic School and graduating from Manistee High School in 1932.  Mary attended Manistee Normal (college) to obtain a teaching certificate, but could not be hired due to her young age. She worked as an alteration seamstress at J.C. Penny and in the laundry at the hospital.

Mary met her future husband while roller-skating over the Ramsdell Theater. She married Robert Tracy on September 7, 1940 at St. Mary’s parsonage, Manistee. They lived in Detroit through the war years and in 1947 settled in Scottville to raise their seven children.

Mary was a member of St. Jerome’s Catholic Church, where she taught CCD and belonged to Catholic Daughters and St. Helena Society.  She worked outside the home with her husband at Tracy’s Lunch Room in the 1970s. She loved gardening, sewing, crocheting rugs and potholders and going to the casino with friends and family. Her favorite pastime was playing bingo with her dear friends wherever she was visiting. Mary was an avid traveler, going yearly by train across the U.S., seeing Alaska by cruise ship and also going on tour to China at 80-years-old.

She is survived by her children: Marilyn Anne (David) Beimer; Patricia (Mike) Westbrook; Margaret (Morton) Finkelstein; Robert (Carol); Charles (Debra); Mary Beth (Kevin) Albert; Kathleen (Rick) Montini; 31 grandchildren; 32 great grandchildren; 10 great-great grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.

Mary was preceded in death by her husband, Bob; parents; beloved brother George; sisters Betty, Delores and infant sister Dorothy.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Saturday, August 26, 2017 at 11 a.m. at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Custer, with visitation starting at 10 a.m.  Visitation will also be held on Friday, August 25, 2017 from 5 to 8 p.m., with a Rosary at 7 p.m., at Oak Grove Funeral Home in Ludington.  A private interment will follow at a later date.

In lieu of flower gifts, the family requests donations in Mary’s name be made to your local hospice, the Alzheimer’s Walk or to the Scottville Clown Band Raymond Schulte Memorial Scholarship Fund.

Arrangements were entrusted to Oak Grove Funeral Home & Cremation Center of Ludington.