Brother Tracey, 1930-2010, by Susan Kinsella

I remember Brother Tracey as a tough, street-smart Irishman from New  York City who became principal of Bishop Kearney High School during our years there. Our senior yearbook said of him, "Seldom does a principal evoke the respect from his students that Brother Tracey does. Admired by both faculty and students, Brother has the dedication to teach a girls' class in Math XI and the enthusiasm to see the Band, Color Guard, and Baton Club off to Ireland. Organizing and uniting a school of 1600 students, scarcely his simplest job, was certainly his most successful."

Maybe that was true up until our time, but he seems to have gone on to an even more challenging high school later on, where he was even more beloved and successful. But by the time he got to DeSales High School in Geneva, NY, apparently in 1975, he was no longer "Brother" Tracey, but Mr. Tracey.

He died in Geneva on March 3, 2010, at 80 years old. Condolence messages in the newspaper's funeral guest book suggest that he pulled DeSales High School together and raised it to a higher standard, then kept it going through difficult times even when that meant that he was the janitor as well as teacher and principal, all at the same time. Doesn't that sound just like him!

His life seemed to take a different path in other ways as well. His obituary says that he is survived by his wife Beryl, who is from the Schaubroeck family that founded the House of Guitars in Irondequoit. He also had a daughter, two sons, and five grandchildren. 

The funeral guest book messages show that he was well loved, wherever his life took him, from Bergen High School in New Jersey, to Bishop Kearney, and then to DeSales in Geneva. It sounds like he lived a very full life. I'm glad he was there for us.

LINK to Brother Tracey's Obituary