BRIDGEPORT, Texas — Tracey Lynn Martz passed away on July 7, 2023, after a six year battle with colon cancer. Her loving family was at her side.

A small service was held by her family earlier this week in celebration of her life.

Born in Hays, Kan. on May 14, 1969, Tracey quickly found love for the little things in life. Whether it was candy, movies, rocks, or Hello Kitty, Tracey learned that the most rewarding thing in life was just living itself. 

She adored her friends and family, and her joy for the simple things would carry into her adult life when she started a family of her own.

Tracey would eventually meet her husband, Roy Martz, and the young couple would journey south to make their roots in Texas. They were married 31 years. Not long after moving to Texas, Tracey’s only child was born, her son, Joshua Martz. The family spent most of their life in Bridgeport, Texas, where Tracey would eventually find her calling in education as the librarian at Bridgeport Middle School. Her passion for the students in 

Bridgeport permeated every moment of her days. The library was a haven for many students who loved to spend time with someone like Tracey, who treated each of them like her own family. Tracey’s family fondly recalls feeling like local celebrities every time they went somewhere in town, because they would cross paths with a past student who would stop and talk to Tracey.

In addition to the students of Bridgeport ISD, Tracey loved spending time out in the sun, laughing about life, and playing with the family dog, Astro, who also recently passed in October of 2022. Above all else, nothing was more important to Tracey than her family. Her love was unconditional, and she spent as much time with her family as possible, taking trips during most summers to see her family in Amarillo and up north in Kansas.

Tracey is preceded in death by her father, Ronald L Maneth, who passed away in early 2020. She is survived by her husband Roy Martz; son Joshua Martz; mother Janet Maneth; sister Melinda Ackerman; and brother Doug Maneth.

She will forever be loved and remembered for giving her whole heart to those she cared about and for her, the list of people she cared about included everyone she crossed paths with. Tracey always put the needs of others before her own and she will always be an example of the best of us.

Great Bend (Kan.) Tribune, July 15, 2023