CAMDEN — Tracy Ellen Brown Wickwire, beloved wife of Ward Wickwire, passed away peacefully on January 28, 2025.  

Tracy was ahead of her time. An exceptional athlete before Title 9, one of her formative traumas from childhood was being told in fourth grade that she was no longer allowed to play football with the boys at recess. They offered her linesman duties; she declined and soon turned to equestrian show jumping, training horses off the track and once beating Snowman, storied champion. Tracy loved golf at Skokie Country Club and Megunticook Golf Club all her life, but she also loved baseball with her brothers, curling, and tennis. 

Tracy grew up in Glencoe, Illinois and attended New Trier High School. After graduating from Skidmore College, she returned to Chicago to work in advertising at Leo Burnett.  Part of the job was to entertain clients with boozy lunches. Never one to cave to pressure, Mom learned to secretly order non-alcoholic drinks that only looked boozy.  

Tracy met Ward in the Chicago Mountaineering Club. After two years of regular weekends climbing in Wisconsin and two Thanksgiving trips to Vail (which Tracy organized), they decided to turn their friendship into marriage. They wed on Income Tax Day of 1967 “so we would never forget the date!” 58 years later, they were still going strong, though nature and Alzheimer’s began their separation too soon. 

They raised their children in Milwaukee and took great joy in being near the middle of the country because they were halfway to all kinds of travel adventures. Tracy especially loved trips to Montana and Wyoming, but her lifelong love was Camden, Maine. She and Ward moved there full time in early 2000; from the Megunticook Golf Club to the Camden Conference, from the Midcoast Forum to the Yacht Club, they found fellowship everywhere. In her later years, she treasured the wonderful community of friends she saw every day at the Camden dog park. Every community she joined valued her infectious enthusiasm and boundless curiosity.  

Her intellectual energy was prodigious, and she took particular pleasure in the accomplishments and adventures of her children and grandchildren. Whether their academic achievements or their sports and music awards, she cheered every success. They loved following her and her beloved labradors down to the beach to hunt for the magical Maine heart stones. They treasured her pure joy at every one of their stories.  

Mom suffered from Alzheimer’s, but we are grateful that her symptoms progressed slowly. Right up until the end, she lit up when her loved ones entered the room. Her sense of humor lasted to the end, too; even at the point when she could barely speak anymore, it was common to hear a sassy comment from her.   

Though she is not physically present with us, we hope Tracy knows that she lives on in the example she set for all of us.  

Tracy is survived by son Ted Wickwire of Brunswick (wife Shawn Gerwig); daughter Meg Wickwire of Concord, Massachetts (husband Bill Rogers); and beloved grandchildren Bertram, Penn, and May; a sister-in-law, Susan Fockler; and Ann Dennen, daughter of Tracy’s deceased Aunt Betty Quantrell.

If desired, memorial gifts may be made to PAWS or the Sussman House. Condolences may be shared at www.longfuneralhomecamden.com.

Arrangements are with the Long Funeral Home & Cremation Service, 9 Mountain Street, Camden.