TRACY PETERSON

Tracy is a girl I met in 5th grade. We had Ms. Krause together.

Soemthing was wrong with her. I don't know what it was. But there was something "not right" going on. Tracy was a virtual mute. Everyone knew it, including Ms. Krause. About once a month, Ms. Krause would call on Tracy in class. Tracy wouldn't answer. She wouldn't respond at all. She stared blankly into nothingness. The class would get silent watching this all unfold. Krause would prompt her for a response of some kind. And yet... nothing. This happened every single time Tracy's name was called. Not once during that entire year did she ever utter a word during class - not once!

Was Tracy retarded? I think most people sort of thought so. At the very least she had some severe social issues. However, she was capable of speech. I saw it. In fact, during recess she would associate with Lori Wavrunek and Jenny Dent. The three of them would generally stay inside for recess. On occasion, I did too. And Tracy would talk and act like a normal person. But in a classroom setting, she was silent. I always assumed she had some sort of learning disability.

As the years progressed, Tracy was put into various special education classes. But she kept going. In fact, eventually she came out of her shell so to speak. She certainly was never a social butterfly by any means. But she found a way to talk and communicate. Against the expectations of probably everyone who knew her in grade school, Tracy finished high school and graduated with us. Well done.

I ran into Tracy several times at the video store. And she remained social. If memory serves, she also married very young. I believe she had a couple kids as well. Today she is known as Tracy Stargardt. I believe she still lives in Two Rivers.