Clarence E. Tracey, a retired Baltimore County firefighter who was also a longtime volunteer firefighter, died Monday at his Cockeysville home of brain cancer. He was 77.
The son of Charles Tracey, a carpenter, and Ella Tracey, a homemaker, Clarence Edward Tracey was born and raised in Phoenix, Baltimore County, on the family farm.
After graduating in 1955 from Towson High School, Mr. Tracey enlisted in the Air Force, assigned as an aviation mechanic to the air base in Plattsburgh, N.Y., where he worked on KC-97 cargo planes and B-52 bombers.
After being discharged in 1959, he returned to Baltimore and worked as an assembler and group leader at Koppers Co. at its Glen Arm plant.
Mr. Tracey was 18 when he joined the Jacksonville Volunteer Fire Company in 1954, and in 1962 he transferred to the Cockeysville Volunteer Fire Company, where he remained an active member until his death.
"His passion was firefighting," said a son, Daryl Tracey, of Fawn Grove, Pa., so in 1972, the elder Mr. Tracey left Koppers Co. and joined the Baltimore County Fire Department.
He served for 27 years until retiring in 1999 at the Fire Department's Texas Station No. 17, working as a fire apparatus driver and operator.
At the Cockeysville Volunteer Fire Company, Mr. Tracey served as a fire line officer, secretary/treasurer for five terms, vice president for four terms and president for eight terms.
Mr. Tracey also served 19 terms on the department's board and was a longtime delegate to the Maryland State Firemen's Association.
In 2003, he was inducted into the Baltimore County Firefighters Hall of Fame and the state Firemen's Association Hall of Fame two years ago.
In his younger years, he was a fast-pitch softball pitcher. He remained an Orioles, Ravens and NASCAR fan. He also liked listening to country music and riding on steam trains.
He also had amassed a large collection of fire memorabilia, his son said.
His wife of nearly 56 years, the former Elaine Keller, died in January.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at the Lemmon Funeral Home, 10 W. Padonia Road, Timonium.
In addition to his son, Mr. Tracey is survived by another son, Dane Tracey of New York City; a daughter, Tammy Tracey of Cockeysville; and a grandson.