Early life:
Tracy was born in Oakland, California on June 13th, 1942 to Donald and Dorothy Veach. Don was already away in the WW II European theater when Tracy was born. Don was wounded and spent over a year in the hospital recovering. He would not return to regular family life until 1946. While Dorothy had plenty of family to keep Tracy company, he was essentially without a father for the first five years of his life. Tracy, however, was not daunted. His first words were “Oh Yeah!” and as Tracy grew able to talk, he repeatedly would hit his mother on the shoulder and shout “I want a brother!” In the end, he would have Kirby, his closest brother, twins who died shortly after birth, sister Roxy, and brother Ricky. Tracy and Kirby spent much time together as they grew up… at least until Tracy discovered girls… and along the way Tracy helped raise Ricky and Roxy.
In Oakland, Don and Dorothy had a successful chain of businesses including hair salons. Tracy got perms whether he liked them or not until he was six and was strong enough to squirm away. Tracy was an early adventurer. He and his friends once built a raft, sailed it out to sea, returned to land, and then walked back home. The family spent summers in Anderson Springs, Lake County, and eventually lived there for two years; Each of Dorothy’s brothers and Don built a house in the canyon. There, Tracy learned a passion for the outdoors, and how to hunt and explore the hills. Later in life, Tracy and Kirby, and their families, would return to the Springs as a place of solace and good times.
When Tracy was 13, the family moved to Ceres. There, Tracy took a huge interest in farming and capitalism. He raised cows, chickens, horses, etc., and grew peaches and other things he could sell. He loved farming and even helped run the family business. However, a couple years later, the family moved again to Manteca, where Don, Tracy, and family built a new house with plenty of land for all sorts of activities. The house eventually had a pool and, technically, Tracy’s first pond. Tracy worked a variety of jobs, including a fruit inspector, and a factory worker who caught 50lb bags of sugar from a loft to throw on the truck. He really started getting into cars and into motorcycles, and was a sight to see in full leathers and cap (as was the day). Eventually, he took a job at Stockton State Hospital, where he learned to be a psychiatric tech along with Earl and Sheila Fulfer – people who would be instrumental in his pursuing higher education… and his wife. After high school and working as a tech, he attended University of the Pacific briefly, and then moved to San Francisco to study psychology and social psychology at SFSU. He transferred from Stockton State Hospital to work at Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital as a tech and eventually a research assistant. Tracy originally lived in a garage in San Francisco with four other roommates, and lived off rice and vegetables.
Marriage, Family, Career:
In 1966, while working at Langley Porter, he met Chris Ewoldsen, daughter of Hans and Esther Ewoldsen and granddaughter of John Pfeiffer of Big Sur. The running joke in the family for new friends is that they met at a psychiatric hospital. In love, they made a new life out of what little they had money wise. Life was full in those days – full of work, and of fun. They took trips to the mountains where Tracy introduced Chris to skiing at what is now Heavenly. They would stay at a family cabin, or book a hotel room and then cram eight friends in the single room. Tracy was mad for Chris (who was mad for him back); At work, where they were not allowed to be together, he would sneak love notes on computer punch cards to his “lovely nurse.” At home, he would write songs on his guitar about her famous lemon pies. On July 30th, 1967 they were married in Big Sur, and then honeymooned in Acapulco, Mexico. That was to be Tracy’s first international travel, and the start of a travel bug that would send him all over the world.
In 1968, the couple moved to Reno. Tracy was drafted but then deferred due to attending University of Nevada, Reno. The family was happy but poor, and lived in one of the (still) seedier parts of town. Tracy attended grad school in the social psychology program, and Chris worked at local hospitals as a psychiatric nurse. Tracy and Chris’ son, Ian Michael Veach, was born in May of 1970. Tracy completed all his course work, moved briefly back to Manteca, and then to Big Sur for a short time. Tracy and Chris’ daughter, Alisa Nicole Veach was born in Carmel, but Tracy returned to Reno to finish his graduate work (and eventually post graduate work).
Tracy worked a series of jobs after grad school, including DTRAP and the Crime Commission. He even became a peace officer and learned how to shoot at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. However, he eventually returned to UNR in 1976 – this time as a research assistant for the Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry. His over 30 years at UNR’s Medical School, whether as an instructor, an evaluator, a marriage and family therapist, or an associate dean, is too extensive to enumerate here; His professional vitae is pages upon pages upon pages. Suffice to say, he made contributions in many areas, and was the type to rarely step up to take any credit. He preferred, as his reward, to have made a difference and not to get a pat on the back or his name in lights. He was a challenger of the status quo, and a champion for expanding and improving medical education. He even forayed to Grateful Dead shows, working with Rock Medicine to provide treatment for concert goers.
Like a fine wine, life gets more grand and valued:
As Tracy and Chris’ life continued and the family got older, Tracy continued to pursue his professional goals. Those goals would eventually move him around the United States on various national committees, but also around the world to places like the United Arab Emirates and Krygyzstan. But Tracy was a man of many interests and talents, and pursued many personal goals as well. He was an avid fisherman, hunter, skier, hiker, runner, lumberjack, chef, gourmand, and backpacker; He studied yoga, played guitar and piano, was an advanced scuba diver, and a licensed boat captain. Happy in the outdoors, he introduced his family to the backcountry and nature – hiking, caving, canyoneering, and even climbing Mt Rainier three times! He studied and eventually taught Kenpo Karate. He built sheds, barns, decks, garages and ponds – a natural Mcgyver – and even became a koi connoisseur. His passion for travel increased, and he traveled the world with both work colleagues and his family, looking for new adventures and new experiences to have and share. He even rafted class 5 rivers in Africa and South America! Most of all, he was a family man and encouraged (and facilitated) his family to live life and love it, to do beautiful things with what you had, and to always grasp for things out of your reach. As with his professional colleagues, he shared himself fully with his family, his wife, and his children. Despite missing his own father in his formative years, he was a fantastic father (as Chris is a fantastic mother) in all respects. Friends of Ian and Alisa would repeatedly tell them their parents were amazing and that they were so lucky.
Eventually, Tracy decided to retire in 2008. Tired of railing against the complexities and conundrums of academic administration, he sought other avenues of interest. Not one to rest on his laurels, he immediately decided to become a ski instructor, teach for the University of Phoenix, and do consulting and volunteer work for various companies and organizations in Nevada. Ian and Alisa’s joke for Tracy was that he had one job until he retired… and then he had three. However, busy as he was, he also made time for his wife, his children, his grandchildren, his brother and family, and his friends.
A life well lived, cut too short:
Always learning, always teaching, Tracy always had something to teach someone – and he always had time to learn something from them. He believed one could enrich oneself at all stages of life – not for oneself, but for the betterment of society and the lives of those around you. Whether his goals were a doctorate degree or running a 100 mile ultra-marathon in one day, the pursuit was not the finish line but the betterment of the spark of humanity and evolution inside us all. He continued to pursue this goal until his untimely death in September of 2011 while hiking Mt Rose with good friends. His family, who cannot remember a time he was in a hospital, to whom he was so close, were obviously crushed. Too soon. He had so much more to do and share. But life does not always do what we want, and he now lives only inside our memories and thoughts. And so now, the learner, the teacher, only has one more lesson for all of us: Live life to the fullest; Learn and love everything you can; Don’t accept what you are given – make life what you want and need.
Our only humble addition to that lesson is to not assume you can fulfill that lesson tomorrow. Do it today.