Joan Isabelle Tracy

Joan Isabelle Tracy died on March 8, 2019, in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. She spent her last year in assisted living, but had lived in Cheney, Wash. for over 50 years.

Joan was born on Dec. 9, 1928 in Tacoma, the first of three children. She graduated from the University of Washington in 1950. While there she met her future husband and WWII vet, Keith Tracy, in a creative writing class. They married on April 8, 1949, and Joan would have enjoyed reaching the 70-year milestone.

Joan taught first-grade from 1949-51 in Seattle. Then she lived in small towns in Montana, Washington and Oregon where Keith taught high school. Not one for being without a career, she became a school librarian in Forest Grove, Ore. and obtained a Master of Librarianship from the University of Washington during her summers off. 

She moved to Cheney in 1964 when Keith joined the faculty at EWU. Joan was employed as a librarian at Eastern from 1967-1990 as a cataloger and then head of technical services. As a librarian, she and Keith lived in England and Australia where she was a visiting lecturer.

Joan always believed a woman needed a career and inspired her three daughters to get a good education. She was a voracious reader and shared her love of reading with others, including the Cheney Public Library book group, which she led for many years. She was instrumental in establishing the public library in Cheney. Joan read so much that a family joke was that she had read “War & Peace” at age five.

Joan is survived by her husband, Keith, of Coeur d’Alene; daughters Megan Bastow (John) of Spokane, Jean Tracy of Gundelfingen, Germany and Ann Johnston of Coeur d’Alene; seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Preceding her in death were her parents Donald and Lillian (Vernhardson) Fries, sister Donna Rice, brother Donald J. Fries and son-in-law Phillip Johnston.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, March 30 at 2 p.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn Spokane Airport (Granite Meeting Room), 9015 W. Highway 2, Spokane, Wash.  Suggested donations in memory of Joan are: Collection Endowment Fund of the EWU Libraries, Hospice House of Spokane and Doctors Without Borders.