Highland teen leaves legacy of words, song

Kelly Tracy’s family marked her birthday this year with a cake and candles, just as it has for the past 16 years.

But her mom, Cindy, couldn’t light the candle.

This year, her daughter, who would have turned 17, wasn’t there to celebrate.

One year ago, Kelly died following a car crash on her way to perform in a parade with Gilbert’s Highland High School band.

The driver of the car that struck her vehicle recently pleaded guilty to manslaughter and is awaiting sentencing.

While many remember Kelly’s tragic death, her family wants them to know and remember her joyful life and faith.

The Tracy family is taking songs and poems — many written by Kelly — and creating a tribute CD, with pieces created and performed by family and friends.

"Hope Lives On" by Andrew Russel, arranged by Cindy Tracy, drums by Matthew Tracy (MP3 - 6.39MB)

Some of the first writings were found in a set of notebooks discovered in Kelly’s bedroom in the days after she died:

“Every minute, every moment passes, and so quickly. Every chance comes and goes in that same moment that just passed ... if only you knew what was going to happen; if only you knew the outcome ...”

'A SENSE KELLY WAS SPECIAL’

At about 6 a.m., Nov. 15, 2008, Kelly and her brother, Matthew, were driving to the Gilbert Days Parade.

At the intersection of Sossaman and Guadalupe roads, they were struck by another vehicle.

According to police reports, Manuel Contreras-Galdean, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, was driving while impaired and hit the Tracy car head-on. Both children were taken to separate Valley hospitals.

Cindy went with Matthew. Her husband, Bill Tracy, went with his daughter.

While at Mesa’s Banner Baywood with Matthew, Cindy received a call to come to Kelly’s bedside — immediately.

One of the police officers from the crash shuttled her in his car.

Lights flashing, siren on, he raced her to a Phoenix hospital — a year later as she recalls that traumatic ride, she is unable to remember which hospital — about 20 minutes away.

“When I got there, Bill was sitting on the concrete outside wrapped in a blanket,” Cindy said. “He said, 'We need to pray’ and put me under the blanket with him.”

Cindy and Bill were told their daughter had a 5 percent chance of survival. She was taken into surgery.

“When she got there, Kelly was still alive, but not coherent,” Cindy said. “The nurse who runs the front desk said she could sense the presence of God. She had a sense Kelly was special.”

A while later, the surgeons came to tell them Kelly had died.

Family members and a few friends were allowed to be with Kelly’s body. There, in the basement of the hospital, they prayed and said goodbye.

“When I look back on it now, I’m so thankful for it. When we came upstairs, the entire drum line and many of the kids from the marching band and parents who brought them were in the waiting room. It was standing room only,” she said. “We walked through this line of people and everyone hugged us. We were all crying. Just to go through that experience and to know she was so loved, it was a little unbelievable, very surreal.”

Had Kelly been able to at that moment, she might have shared some words of encouragement — like those her family would eventually find in her journals:

“When you have nothing left and no hope, it’s okay. God can make something incredible out of absolutely nothing ...”

MUSICAL HEALING

Going through Kelly’s room in the following days, Cindy found a set of three, 70-page notebooks filled with her daughter’s words. More thoughts were found on torn-up scraps of paper tossed in an old water bottle.

Kelly had written her musings, a teen girl’s thoughts on life, prayers for family and friends, poetry, and page after page of songs.

The words revealed a life based on faith:

“He has the greatest plans for you! Far better than anything you think up on your own ... Fairy tales really do exist, the best part is — they aren’t just made up! But only through Jesus.”

Since discovering the notebooks, Cindy has read every word.

Just this week, she finished putting all of the writing from one journal into the computer.

“Everything she left me was so inspirational and so good. She wrote her prayers down to God. She prayed for me, for the family, for friends, for herself,” Cindy said. “Her eulogy was a prayer she wrote.”

As she combed through Kelly’s prayers and thoughts, Cindy relived moments shared with her daughter.

“For such a young teenage girl, she had such purity of heart,” Cindy said. “The songs are inspiring. There’s nothing depressing about Kelly.”

Cindy shared the notebooks with her husband, Kelly’s five brothers and sisters, and numerous relatives who came to the house. Together, they sat and read the words, laughing and crying.

Many were written by a girl “going through what teen girls go through — only with a much-aware knowledge that God was near and walking her through it,” Cindy said.

Cindy knew her daughter had been writing songs. An avid musician, Kelly played multiple instruments — xylophone, marimba, flute, electric and acoustic guitar, to name a few — and she sang, like many of her siblings.

Music is a central part of the Tracy household. Along with Kelly’s instruments, the Tracy children — Jessika, 20; Matthew, 18; Michael, 15; Kaitlin, 13; and Jason, 10 — also play the drums, trumpet, baritone saxophone, keyboard and guitar.

One of the songs written by Kelly was played at her funeral. A close friend remembered the tune Kelly hummed it to and presented it to the family. He then performed it at City of Grace Church in Mesa on the day 1,400 students, teachers, community members, family and friends said goodbye.

Armed with Kelly’s writings, Cindy had a new mission: to create and record her daughter’s songs and mix them with similar songs from Kelly’s siblings and friends. It’s become a step toward healing, a step, Cindy said, to know Kelly’s dreams live on.

'I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU’

One of the first songs now recorded for the CD was “Hope Lives On,” written by Andrew Russel, an out-of-state friend. That tune became a source of comfort to the family during the six days prior to Kelly’s funeral.

“We sang that song many, many times that week. We’d teach it to aunts and friends who came over,” Cindy said.

“Hope Lives On” was also performed at Kelly’s funeral.

The office where the family shared that song with others is now a small recording studio. Multiple instruments fill the room, including a drum set and keyboard, which Cindy uses for many of the initial recordings.

Dad Bill is the music’s mechanical genius. He puts together the necessary equipment — computer, guitar strings — and tweaks it as needed to make the recordings.

But when they started preserving Kelly’s songs, no one in the house knew how to record the music.

Cindy returned to college in the spring, enrolling in a Mesa Community College music recording program with students half her age.

“I found out all that I’ve been doing prior to this ... were leading to this,” she said of her new path.

Her son, Matt, has joined her in the MCC classes.

“Being my own worst critic, I don’t know that it’ll ever be good enough to put out there,” Cindy said of the CD.

But that’s the plan. Between seeing her oldest son graduate and start college, her middle son start high school, her oldest daughter prepare for a wedding, and two younger children to care for, Cindy is doing the recordings and editing.

Once that’s set, she’ll send the music away to be mastered.

Cindy said about a dozen songs have been finished, with Kelly’s lyrics used in half of them. Kelly’s siblings and friends are contributing musical talents to the CD.

The project, Cindy said, preserves Kelly’s memory and life — in her daughter’s own words:

“I’ve realized that anything that I go through is NOTHING compared to what Jesus went through for me. To me I may not seem to be worth it, but to God, He’s reaching out to all of us saying, 'I want you, and I will never leave you.’”

“I’m just real proud of her as her mom. I want her legacy to be known,” Cindy said. “Her siblings are going to have children one day. They’re going to want to know, 'What was Kelly like?’”

Thoughtful. Musical. Faithful.

An inspiration who lives on for those who love her, and now, they hope, for others, too.