Tracy's tree

This past week, I lost one of the dearest men I’ve ever known.

Tracy Schmaltz was a longtime family friend and had helped me from day one at the cabins. He was indispensable. He painted the sauna, repaired boat seats and playhouses, and moved couches, beds and refrigerators. He did all the weedwhacking around the cabins and lakeshore (and there’s a lot of it!), and faithfully hauled my trash away every week. He also helped with several of my parade floats, proudly behind the wheel as his grandkids sat on the floats.

I loved Tracy’s sense of humor. In one of the photos below he is squirting water at his granddaughter to cool her off! His grandson would often help him with the weedwhacking and trash, too. He was so proud of these kids.

Tracy would often bring me vegetables from his garden or strawberries he had picked. Always sharing what he had. When Tracy and his wife needed temporary lodging when their new home was being built, they stayed at the cabins, which was a win-win. I was glad I was nearby and could help them out.

If I needed him, Tracy was there for me. Always. He had also been a big help to my parents in their final years, doing odd jobs, and just visiting them when they became house-bound. Amazingly this man was all the while suffering with Parkinson’s, but he rarely complained. He smiled and he endured.

In 2019, I asked him to help me transplant a small white pine tree from my backyard to the entrance of the cabins. I had to remove a 100-foot blue spruce the previous year, which had left a gaping hole. We dug up the little pine and a generous root ball and gave it a new home. Tracy was unconvinced it would grow but, lo and behold, it did. Every year we would admire it and its new growth and sturdy trunk. Now, six years later the tree is over 20-feet high and is looking down on the nearby light post.

Forever this beautiful pine will be “Tracy’s tree,” keeping a watchful eye on my cabins and grounds, just as he did.

You will be missed every day, my friend. RIP.