Newsletter

 Wallace and Mary Tracy met while attending a tent revival in middle Tennessee shortly after World War II. Wallace had written in his yearbook at West End High School that his ambition was to be a fighter pilot.  At the time of their meeting he was following his dream.  He became a fighter pilot. 

 Theirs was a “love at first sight” encounter as Mary recalled it, but circumstances were such that seven long years passed before they actually “got together.”  Mary lived in Tennessee.  Wallace was stationed in California.  Seven years after they had met Mary could not stop thinking about Wallace.  So Mary sent Wallace a Christmas card.  That Christmas card reignited the flame of a love that would grow to become so deep and strong that it resulted in what Mary affectionately called a “dream come true marriage of 52 years.”

 After they married Mary joined her new husband in San Jose, California where he was employed for 30 years at Moffatt Field Naval Air Station.  Upon his retirement the Tracys moved back “home” to Tennessee in 1987, settling in the Hendersonville area.  There they joined and became faithful members of First Baptist Church.  Mary often told others that she knew that many of her friends were not happy when their husbands retired but that she was thrilled because then she and Wallace could spend the whole day together.

 Through the years the couple’s love and devotion to one another grew even closer.  Little love notes were found among their personal things.  Perhaps every “love letter” they ever wrote to one another were among their possessions.  The first necktie Mary ever gave to her husband was still hanging in his closet when Mary went to be with the Lord.  The special necklace Wallace had made for Mary, with its pendant in the form of 10 ½ (because, he declared, she was more perfect than a perfect “10”), was one of her favorite possessions.

 When they moved to Tennessee they joined and worshipped faithfully at First Baptist Church of Hendersonville.  It was shortly after their move back to Tennessee that they contacted the Tennessee Baptist Foundation and began a relationship that revealed another of their deep loves and passions.  Their love for our Lord became evident as they discussed and established their Christian estate plan.  A part of that plan consisted of their Last Wills and Testaments.  The other part resulted in a Revocable Trust. Under this arrangement the Foundation managed the investment assets but the Tracys still owned them and could withdraw from them as they needed or wanted.  In fact, several withdrawals were taken during their latter years.  Upon their mutual deaths the remaining assets would become the “Wallace W. and Mary P. Tracy Memorial Trust.”  That Memorial Trust will benefit the ministry of Tennessee Baptist Children’s Homes and the Cooperative Program

 On March 7, 2011 Wallace Tracy went to be with the Lord.  His beloved Mary followed him in death on February 29, 2012.  We celebrate the lives and faith of Wallace and Mary Tracy:   A “Dream Come True” Marriage and a Christian Legacy That Will Last for All Time.  To God be the glory!