Parker Cole Tracy

1914 - 2014

(News article) Parker Cole Tracy, a Toledo-area electrical engineer and pilot, died Nov. 17. He was 100.

His only child, Mary Ann Jenkins of Marion, said her father died in a nursing home in Delaware, Ohio, of heart failure related to old age.

Mr. Tracy grew up around planes. He was the only child born to Walden Tracy and Mabel Cole in Bartlesville, Okla. He was born on Aug. 16, 1914. His father was a pilot and purchased a private plane when the family moved to Toledo from Findlay in the 1920s.

"I think they must have flown a lot," Mrs. Jenkins said.

Mr. Tracy first obtained a pilot's license in the 1930s. He married Jane Burgin, who was also a pilot, on Aug. 12, 1939. Along with the elder Mr. Tracy, the trio operated a small dealership for Porterfield airplanes in Toledo for a time before the federal government acquired the planes for the war effort.

Mr. Tracy also served in the National Guard and the Civil Air Patrol before World War II, then as a pilot and ordnance officer with the U.S. Navy during the war. He was stationed at a number of domestic bases, including in Florida and California.

"He served with a group of people that were prepared to be moved out on short notice and go anywhere in the world to set up an air base," Mrs. Jenkins said.

Upon his return to Toledo after the war in 1946, the Tracys again partnered and operated the Willow Seaplane Base on Maumee Bay in Point Place. The younger Mr. Tracy was the flight instructor there.

In 1946, the family bought a small resort property in Muskoka, Ont., with a lodge and nine cottages.

"What they really wanted to do was fly people up to go fishing," Mrs. Jenkins said. "The flying thing never happened, but they ran this little resort."

By the late 1940s, Mr. Tracy made the decision to sell his planes and change careers for financial reasons.

He had earned his bachelor's degree in engineering from the University of Toledo in 1937. He worked for Delos M. Palmer and Associates for 28 years, putting his problem-solving skills to use as chief electrical engineer.

"People came to them with problems or they wanted something developed," Mrs. Jenkins said. "One time, the challenge was to develop an instrument or machine that would detect defects in the necks of glass bottles that were being manufactured. Their little machine was too sensitive at first, and it rejected like 90 percent of the bottles."

Mrs. Jenkins said her father often used those problem-solving skills at home on Whiteford Road in Sylvania Township.

She shares many memories of putting together jigsaw puzzles with him, and said he once taught himself some automotive mechanics in order to fix the transmission on her car.

"He could always fix things," she said.

Mr. Tracy retired in 1976, then spent time with his wife traveling.

The pair enjoyed outdoor activities such as fishing and sailing and eventually purchased a motor home and learned to play golf.

"They loved it," Mrs. Jenkins said. "They traveled all over the country and in Canada."

Mr. Tracy never lost his love for aviation, and Mrs. Jenkins said he still carried his pilot's license. He last flew about 10 years ago when the family hired a charter plane to take them to their Ontario lodge.

"We flew over all the lakes and our cottage," his daughter said. "He really enjoyed that. He always talked about going up again."

His wife of 74 years preceded him in death in June at the age of 99.

Mr. Tracy is survived by his daughter, three grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

Mr. Tracy will be cremated and interred with his parents and wife in the Ottawa Hills Memorial Park in a private ceremony.

Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m. Dec. 20, at Walker Funeral Home, 5155 Sylvania Ave. Friends may call from 10 to 11 a.m.

The family suggests memorials to Redeemer Lutheran Church, 1702 Upton Ave., Toledo.

Contact Blade staff writer Alexandra Mester at: amester@theblade.com, 419-724-6066, or on Twitter @AlexMesterBlade.