100 Years old

Rita Tracy is celebrating her 100th birthday on August 15, a date she is always quick to acknowledge being honored to share as the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother. This birthday is a day she’s been looking forward to for months and months, anticipating at last being able to give her age in triple digits. Turning 100 has been a happy goal, one Rita says she is grateful to reach because she “still has lots of people to pray for every day” during her morning ritual, which for most of her life she begins about 4 a.m.

Even now in the restricted event mode we’re still in because of the virus, there will be music and a Happy Birthday chorus around the cake. This time the “Resident Musician” will be the guest of honor, enjoying the tune she’s played for other residents hundreds of times during her nearly 12 years at St. Joseph’s Residence. Rita’s accompaniment to the St. Joseph Players singing group has spanned many years, during which she attended countless rehearsal sessions and performed during fundraisers and special Home events. Her skill, style, and grace at the grand piano have been appreciated by all she’s entertained throughout these years.

Rita and her late husband Roger raised their two sons, Roy and Bob, in Springfield. Both having come from large families that came to the United States from Canada in the early 1900’s. As fate would have it, the relocation of the two families set in motion the eventual meeting, falling in love, and marriage on October 9, 1945 of Rita Alix and Roger Tracy, whose families ended up living a half-a-mile apart. Son Roy and his wife Linda and their children and grandchildren still live in the local area. And Rita often exclaims how she is blessed to have so many relatives on both sides of hers and Roger’s families who love, keep in touch, and visit her.

Rita happily looks back on all the years since childhood and marriage, always thanking God for the good times that offset the struggles, putting faith first and always placing things in God’s hands. She says she got tough like so many of her generation during the Depression and World War II years that had presented challenges and later opportunities to both families. They learned that through hard work and the foundation of family and church commitments they were able to establish themselves and realize what America and the American dream were all about.

In the story titled, “History of a Marriage,” written by Rita and Roger’s two sons Roy and Bob and Michael Alix, the families were described as having experienced, “some of the leanest years in American history. They learned never to take daily life for granted and to stick together. When money was scarce, the two boys, (Wilbur, Roger’s brother) and Roger, went from door-to-door selling home-grown vegetables.”

During these years, just down the street Rita was already a budding musician, having in high school become the winner of a state-wide band competition. She was helping her family, working at the Woolworth’s store, caring for her two little brothers as if they were her own children because her mother was quite ill, and practicing the piano lessons every spare moment. As long as she can remember, Rita says, “music was my pride and joy.” As the family history relates, “these lessons had cost her father a dollar out of his sixteen-dollar-a-week take-home pay.” But that investment and her motivation paid off for Rita in the long run, as music became a source of joy and income for Rita and the Tracy family throughout their life.

Rita and Roger’s families and their children were close throughout their lives, Rita’s brother Franny and Roger becoming like brothers themselves. Marriages and children and family feasts and cousin bonds established during the formative years gave the family strong traditions and a legacy to leave on as the families continue to grow, many members having spread far and wide. But they remaining a loving unit sharing a respect for the hard work and sacrifices made by the likes of Roger and Rita throughout the years.

At 100 years old, Rita is always happy to greet every visitor with her familiar and enthusiastic welcome, one that must have won Roger’s heart when they first met. And she still sits ramrod straight, her musician’s discipline evident even as she navigates her electric car, at every Mass parking skillfully in her favorite place in the chapel. And all who know her also know her faith and prayer discipline, practiced with a rigid and joyful commitment.

“I put everything in God’s hands; He knows what to do with it,” she says when faced with any adversity, “and pray,” which she likes to say is “her ticket to heaven.” Rita balances faith and fun, with music most of the time somewhere in the mix.

For years before the quarantine, she and her resident friend Elizabeth enjoyed evening movies, musicals being their favorites, many of which they watched repeatedly, singing along and taking turns selecting from Rita’s large collection the evening’s showing. Hopefully the quarantine will end soon and the happier events at the Home can return to more normal operations.

Until that time, Rita plays her piano in the dining room and more recently started enjoying a keyboard in her room. Now with more limited vision to read the hundreds of sheets of music she’s written out by hand, she’s playing by ear and memorizing many of the songs she’s played for the enjoyment of her audiences at St. Joseph’s and countless other venues throughout her musical career.

Happy 100th Birthday, Rita! Thank you for the music!