Providing a Strong Layer of Support

Tracy McCoy is a Paraeducator at the Corbett Grade School. She was born in Kelso, WA. as the youngest of eight children born to her parents. Kelso was a logging town and her father worked for Weyerhauser and her mom stayed at home with the children. When Tracy was just six years old, her father died of a heart attack. At that time, her mom had "just" three kids still at home, as Tracy was born eight years after her next oldest sibling. There were four girls and four boys. Tracy was always a very strong student, reading college level books in the 5th grade. She focused on academics growing up and graduated from Kelso High School, finishing in the top 5% of her class. After high school, she went on to community college in Longview, where she had an academic scholarship. After two years, she transferred to the Univ. of Oregon, majoring in Sociology. It was here she met her first husband. At this time she was also working nearly full-time at a hospital, speaking with folks that were under great stress as they tried to pay their bills and deal with a prognosis. Tracy's oldest sister lived in Gresham, so she married in 1987 and lived in Gresham while working at the Parry Center in Portland. Married for six years, she and her husband had both a daughter and son together. When they divorced, she wanted to stay at home with her children. Tracy took in foster children and worked with them from a home base. Fifteen children came through her home over the years! Usually one at a time. One son she kept. He came at age seven and is now almost 18. All three of her children are very close to one another. She remarried in 2000 to Kelly. They re-met at their 20 year high school reunion after knowing each other since kindergarten! Together they live in Gresham. Their youngest son will graduate from high school next year, their daughter will be getting married, and their older son will be attending OSU. The entire family is big sports fans! Tracy began in 2014 in Corbett as a sub and was hired in October 2015 full-time. She said she loves the small community and the close knot relationships of the staff.