Tracy Tucker

I studied classical piano for a few years at University of Utah before trying unsuccessfully to enroll as a piano student at Julliard in NYC. Coming to my senses, I changed majors and graduated in 1982 with a BS in Chemical Engineering.

I moved to Silicon Valley to work at IBM as a manufacturing process engineer in production of magnetic coating for main-frame DASD. Eventually I was retrained as a software engineer but had to stop work after 23 years due to multiple sclerosis issues. I remained on long-term disability with IBM until I formally retired in 2022.

My spouse Charles and I have been together since 1985. We were formally married in 2008 after Proposition 8 legalized same-sex unions in California.

We were among the first same-sex couples to be married without legal sanction at San Fransisco City Hall in 2005, thanks to the SF city mayor and the city employees who staffed City Hall that day and were willing to push the issue to force social change.

While still working at IBM, I was aware that MS had affected my short-term memory and problem-solving ability. To protect myself from layoff and to explore another career, I took one-year unpaid sabbatical from IBM and moved to Boston to study piano tuning and rebuilding.

I enrolled in a one-year program of study at The New England Conservatory of Music taught by the head piano technician of the Boston Symphony. I learned to tune by ear, without the aid of an electronic tuning device. Tuning by ear is becoming a lost art.

While in Boston, an unexpected opportunity opened up to tune pianos in western Massachusetts at the Tanglewood Music Festival, summer home of the Boston Symphony.

The position came with room and board, a small stipend, and full concert access to all performances. I was in heaven for a few months, surrounded by classical music, and pleased to have found a way to combine my piano and technical interests. I lived for a short time in the chauffer quarters above the garages of Seranak, the old Koussevitzky mansion in Lennox, adjacent to the Tanglewood grounds. While working at Tanglewood, I tuned in rooms filled with memories of Bernstein and Copeland, and I helped prepare pianos for BSO performances.

After an exhausting and exhilarating summer, I returned to IBM and software development. I tuned part time for a few years on weekends and evenings, while developing code for IBM during the day, But, by that time, MS physical limitations had made a career as a piano technician impractical.

I mostly kept to myself at Skyline while I tried to figure out who I was, and simultaneously tried to hide and keep secret who I was. My most lasting memories are of singing with the Concert Choir during my senior year, and of trying to make it through Gym class without embarrassing myself. I remember hitting a wrong note on the piano as I accompanied the choir at a church service in the intro to "By the Waters of Babylon". And I remember the encouragement and musical intensity of our choir director, Miss Gunderson.

I'm always amazed when I meet people who have maintained high school friendships. I regret that I wasn't able to do this.