Published on October 27, 2025 11:21 am
Last Updated on October 27, 2025 11:21 am
Debra Kay (Gard) Tracy, 71, of Greenup, IL, passed away at 5:25 AM Friday, October 24, 2025, at the Willow Breeze Hospice House in Mattoon, IL.
Deb was born March 9, 1954, in Paris, IL, the daughter of Gayle and Norma (Tucker) Gard. She married Norman Lee Tracy on March 11, 1972, in Martinsville, IL. They were happily married for 53 years.
Visitation will be from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 30, 2025, at the Barkley Funeral Chapel in Greenup, Illinois. Funeral Services in honor of her life will be at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, October 31, 2025, also at the funeral chapel in Greenup. Pastor Tony Crouch will officiate. Burial will be in the Ridgelawn Cemetery in Martinsville.
Deb was a 1972 graduate of Martinsville High School. She and Norm met as strangers seated together in the bleachers of a high school basketball game, and their ensuing conversation led to a relationship and their lives together. Deb attended Lake Land College and Eastern Illinois University and became a special education teacher, first working in Robinson in 1978. She also coached junior high track and cheerleading, spending many hours in the gym while Norm coached basketball. They moved to Oakland in 1986 for Norm to become a school administrator. At Oakland, Deb
continued teaching special education and coaching junior high and high school track, and she was her daughter Nicole’s cheerleading coach. In 1996 they moved to Cumberland school district. Later, Deb coordinated student behavioral services for EIASE and for Martinsville schools until her retirement in 2018. Then she worked along with Norm at Villa Grove schools in an interim position until 2020. Throughout her career, she had an incredible impact on a vast number students, athletes, teachers, and families. Deb was a member of churches in the communities in which she taught, last attending Family Worship Center in Mattoon, IL. She loved to be outdoors, spending hours working on her 11-acre property, riding horses, fishing, planting flowers, putting up hay, cutting wood, digging post holes, building fence, walking in the woods, and catching frogs. That was her form of exercise, and she and Norm shared quality time together this way, along with their grandkids. After retirement it’s safe to say her favorite job was being “Mam”, and she was the best Mam they could ever hope for. She never missed an opportunity to pick the kids up for multi-day sleepovers. She attended every game and event, cheering louder than anyone else in the crowd, and quickly became “Mam” to her grandkids’ friends as well. She loved her dogs and granddogs, and enjoyed having the granddogs for sleepovers, too. She loved vacationing at the beach and walking the shoreline searching for seashells. She was the first to pitch in whenever anyone needed help and would do anything for anyone. She had a servant’s heart. She showed her family endless love and support. She was a loving wife, and a devoted mother to Nicole and KaLeigh. No matter what she was going through she would always say to her girls, “as long as your lives are okay, then my life is okay.”
Deb was preceded in death by her parents, Gayle & Norma Gard; grandparents, Marion & Pauline Tucker, Ernest & Nellie Gard, & Great Uncle Les Gard.
She is survived by her husband, Norm Tracy of Greenup, IL; a brother, Bob (Lisa) Gard of Marshall, IL; children, Nicole (Tom) Beals of Charleston, IL, & KaLeigh (Greg) Taylor of Charleston, IL;
grandchildren Logan Beals, Avery Beals, Ella Taylor, & Brady Taylor; as well as many nephews.
The family has requested for those who desire to make memorial contributions in memory, to the Oblong Children’s Christian Home 4094 E 1050th Ave Oblong, IL 62449.
Online condolences can be expressed at www.barkleyfuneralchapels.com