Freedom

Tracy Hall went home last Tuesday at his home near Janesville. He was a mountain of a person who could charm anyone in the world, from my mom to the nurses in a hospital room. I can still see him when he was a teenager, at 6’5” 200 pounds. I was younger, but I can still remember him and the prettiest girls’ in Cresco driving by my house in his jeep waving at me like he hadn’t seen me in years. Tracy’s family lived in the house across the alley from ours.


I’ll never forget the day Tracy drove his Jeep into our front yard and my mom almost grabbed him by his long hair and slapped him. He drove all the way down Third Avenue giggling like a school girl about that. I can remember reading the story in the paper about how Tracy was recognized by the Governor for dragging a man from a burning car and saving the man’s life.

The last time I saw Tracy was in Casey’s here in Jesup a few years ago. He still had that grin and that long hair, and he still had time for the not so skinny red haired kid from across the alley with the big ears. My thoughts and prayers go out to his mom Faith, his brother and sister Troy and Kerry, his son and daughter, and his nieces.

This song sung by Dobie Gray fits Tracy’s free spirit.