John "Bob" Robert Tracy

John Robert “Bob” Tracy passed away February 12, 2018. He was 93.

Bob was born October 30, 1924 in Kansas City, Missouri, the only child of James Robert and Carolyn Marie Tracy. He went to Hale Cook Grade School and graduated from there in 1937, and attended Southwest High School. He graduated from high school in 1941 at age 16. He went to the Junior College of Kansas City for one year. He enlisted in the Navy on his 18th birthday in 1942. His service began January 10, 1943. The Navy sent him to aviation machinist school at Navy Pier in Chicago. Then he went to radar school in Memphis, TN; Norman Purcell gunnery school in Jacksonville, FL; flight school at Whitney Island, WA, flight school in San Francisco, CA. After training, he was stationed at Kanehohe Oahua, HI; Johnston Island, Guam; Samar and all the other Philippine islands. He flew in Black Cat aircraft. After being stationed in the South Pacific, he returned to Navy Pier and was honorably discharged in St. Louis in 1946. He met Barbara Prout in 1945 while on leave. Bob joined the Plumbers Union in 1946. On June 24, 1948, he married Barbara. They had two sons, Brent and Brian. He retired in 1982 at age 58.

He is preceded in death by Barbara. He survived by the two sons, daughter-in-law Francie, grandson Sean, and granddaughter Dana.

Bob loved singing, and he played violin. He sang and played in the orchestra in grade school. He also played in the high school orchestra and was in the all city and state orchestra. He continued to play violin in Junior College in the string ensemble. He also played violin in the Independence Symphony Orchestra. He sang in the Trinity Presbyterian Church choir and the Blue Ridge Methodist Church choir. He was a member of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America (SPEBSQSA) and sang in the choruses of the Independence, Heart of America (Kansas City), and North Kansas City chapters of The SPEBSQSA and was in a quartet. He directed the chorus for the North Kansas City chapter for a short time. He also in the Independence Messiah Choir for a couple of seasons. After he retired, he also sang in the Raytown Community and the Kansas City Metro Men’s Chorus as well as singing for the Carson Funeral Home for a year and a half.

Other hobbies Bob took up after retirement were needle work and relief wood carving. He had shop with many machine and specialized tools for making carvings and won some awards for his work. Bob loved to tell jokes and kid around. He liked to laugh and make others laugh. Humor and singing were the two characteristics that stayed with him all his life.