Obituary for Loretta Tracy
Loretta Tracy was the adored Grande dame and matriarch of her sprawling family. She exemplified for all of us what it means to live a truly extraordinary life. She grew up of humble means on Youngs Avenue in Ellsworth, Maine, but she knew how to seize the best of the world around her and infuse it with splendor and style. Her children and grandchildren have always lovingly referred to her as “Gorilla,” an ironic nickname for a petite and elegant woman, resulting from the mispronunciation of her name by a neighborhood toddler.
Even in leaner times when her children were young, she created fun and made the most of the glorious Maine outdoors around us: playing hooky on the cross-country ski trails at the Woodlawn Museum, working “remotely” from Sand Beach in the summers, collecting sea glass on the Downeast shores. In 1975, Loretta built her own home by hand, a lovely house that still stands solidly on the Bayside Road, a house that all the children’s friends also called home. It was heated by wood that we kids grudgingly chopped and stacked every fall, and yet now we recall those cozy days so fondly… Her work at Downeast Health Services took her all over the remotest parts of Maine, where she helped young women to navigate the challenges of new motherhood.
For all of us, she was a role model, an adventurous spirit whose retirement at 56 marked the beginning of many new escapades: She traveled the world - Egypt, China, Europe, and across the US. She earned her pilot’s license and flew a Cessna seaplane from lake to lake across her beloved state of Maine. She challenged us kids to kayaking excursions along the Union River Bay, where we struggled and often failed to keep up with this mighty 100-pound woman even into her 80s!
Loretta reconnected with her childhood classmate Ernest Tracy in April 2009 to plan their next high school reunion, and the rest was history: Ernie ended up capturing her heart! They wasted no time in marrying in August of that same year and had nearly fourteen wonderful years together until her death. This expanded our family even more, adding a fourth sister to our collection, who fit seamlessly into our wild and bawdy horde.
Her penchant for novelty kept Loretta young and her mind sharp as she eagerly taught her children and grandchildren all of the most useful new electronics and apps. She was a deep critical thinker who was an avid consumer of new information, from science and technology to the arts. Her wicked and irreverent sense of humor graced many long, hilarious, laughter-filled family gatherings where she would sassily out-wit even her grandchildren. She would then proceed to crush them at badminton and tennis, before leading us all in song until long after dark.
Her high school classmates bestowed upon her the senior superlative, “pretty to walk with, witty to talk with” – a vast understatement, but a harbinger of what she would bring to the world. She was our icon, our legend, the bright star around which we all revolved, and she will be so terribly missed!
Loretta Mae (Remick) Tracy, 87, died unexpectedly on July 8, 2023, at Maine Coast Memorial Hospital. She was born December 9, 1935, in Ellsworth, Maine, daughter of Horace Remick and Blanche (Rich) Remick. Loretta graduated from Ellsworth High School in 1954 and from Maine Medical Center School of Nursing in Portland in 1957. She spent the majority of her career as Director of Nurses at Downeast Health services in Ellsworth before retiring in 1992.
Loretta was predeceased by son Robert Tilden Jr. and grandson Leon Tilden, of Lamoine, ME; sisters Kathleen (Remick) Karst, of Ellsworth, ME, and Arlene (Remick) Rand, of Winter Harbor, ME; brother Oscar Remick of Trenton, ME; niece Linda (Karst) Reger of Amherst, NH; and nephew John Remick of Trenton, ME. She is survived by husband Ernest Tracy of Ellsworth, ME; daughters Julie Tilden (and Donald Rae) of Ellsworth, ME, Andrea Tilden (and Eric Thomas) of Trenton, ME, Sarah Tilden-Warner (and Scott Warner) of Fort Kent, ME, and Victoria (Tracy) Ringwood (and Jeff Ringwood) of Lebanon, NJ; nephews Mark Remick, Paul Remick, James Karst, and John Karst; niece Marilyn Karst; grandchildren Dustin Seavey, Benjamin Tilden, Tyler Crawford, Jordan Crawford, Samuel Warner, Olivia Benissan, Alex Warner, Connor Crawford, and William Thomas; and a growing number of great-grandchildren
Arrangements by Jordan-Fernald, 113 Franklin St. Ellsworth
Condolences may be expressed at www.jordanfernald.com
Even in leaner times when her children were young, she created fun and made the most of the glorious Maine outdoors around us: playing hooky on the cross-country ski trails at the Woodlawn Museum, working “remotely” from Sand Beach in the summers, collecting sea glass on the Downeast shores. In 1975, Loretta built her own home by hand, a lovely house that still stands solidly on the Bayside Road, a house that all the children’s friends also called home. It was heated by wood that we kids grudgingly chopped and stacked every fall, and yet now we recall those cozy days so fondly… Her work at Downeast Health Services took her all over the remotest parts of Maine, where she helped young women to navigate the challenges of new motherhood.
For all of us, she was a role model, an adventurous spirit whose retirement at 56 marked the beginning of many new escapades: She traveled the world - Egypt, China, Europe, and across the US. She earned her pilot’s license and flew a Cessna seaplane from lake to lake across her beloved state of Maine. She challenged us kids to kayaking excursions along the Union River Bay, where we struggled and often failed to keep up with this mighty 100-pound woman even into her 80s!
Loretta reconnected with her childhood classmate Ernest Tracy in April 2009 to plan their next high school reunion, and the rest was history: Ernie ended up capturing her heart! They wasted no time in marrying in August of that same year and had nearly fourteen wonderful years together until her death. This expanded our family even more, adding a fourth sister to our collection, who fit seamlessly into our wild and bawdy horde.
Her penchant for novelty kept Loretta young and her mind sharp as she eagerly taught her children and grandchildren all of the most useful new electronics and apps. She was a deep critical thinker who was an avid consumer of new information, from science and technology to the arts. Her wicked and irreverent sense of humor graced many long, hilarious, laughter-filled family gatherings where she would sassily out-wit even her grandchildren. She would then proceed to crush them at badminton and tennis, before leading us all in song until long after dark.
Her high school classmates bestowed upon her the senior superlative, “pretty to walk with, witty to talk with” – a vast understatement, but a harbinger of what she would bring to the world. She was our icon, our legend, the bright star around which we all revolved, and she will be so terribly missed!
Loretta Mae (Remick) Tracy, 87, died unexpectedly on July 8, 2023, at Maine Coast Memorial Hospital. She was born December 9, 1935, in Ellsworth, Maine, daughter of Horace Remick and Blanche (Rich) Remick. Loretta graduated from Ellsworth High School in 1954 and from Maine Medical Center School of Nursing in Portland in 1957. She spent the majority of her career as Director of Nurses at Downeast Health services in Ellsworth before retiring in 1992.
Loretta was predeceased by son Robert Tilden Jr. and grandson Leon Tilden, of Lamoine, ME; sisters Kathleen (Remick) Karst, of Ellsworth, ME, and Arlene (Remick) Rand, of Winter Harbor, ME; brother Oscar Remick of Trenton, ME; niece Linda (Karst) Reger of Amherst, NH; and nephew John Remick of Trenton, ME. She is survived by husband Ernest Tracy of Ellsworth, ME; daughters Julie Tilden (and Donald Rae) of Ellsworth, ME, Andrea Tilden (and Eric Thomas) of Trenton, ME, Sarah Tilden-Warner (and Scott Warner) of Fort Kent, ME, and Victoria (Tracy) Ringwood (and Jeff Ringwood) of Lebanon, NJ; nephews Mark Remick, Paul Remick, James Karst, and John Karst; niece Marilyn Karst; grandchildren Dustin Seavey, Benjamin Tilden, Tyler Crawford, Jordan Crawford, Samuel Warner, Olivia Benissan, Alex Warner, Connor Crawford, and William Thomas; and a growing number of great-grandchildren
Arrangements by Jordan-Fernald, 113 Franklin St. Ellsworth
Condolences may be expressed at www.jordanfernald.com