People in a small town make impacts without even realising it. The conversations you have with people may sometimes be the only conversation they have in a day, so the good ones count. Kindness, a happy disposition and a friendly face can really make their mark.

Tracy Pascoe is one of those friendly faces. Her smile, friendly nature and her honesty is the epitome of small-town people.

Tracy lives two doors up from me, and is one of my treasured friends.

She was born in Hay, to Jenny and Adrian Pascoe.

Her childhood was coloured with the sweet cliches of small-town life.

Home when the streetlights came on, many a day was spent at Alma Beach with her friends, including Kylie Edwards, Tracy Edwards and others.

They were swimming for a good deal of the time.

“We had a cubby house down at Alma Beach, behind Jack Howards house, that Jack helped us build,” she recalled.

“When we swam, we mostly swam near the pump. I always found the drake (a big piece of wood partially submerged in the river) too scary to go near."

Tracy and her friends spent many happy hours at the back of the milk factory, skating.

“They had a big expanse of very smooth concrete there, and we skated all the time,” she recalled.

“I started out with the adjustable skates and then got white boot skates for Christmas; I thought they were the best thing since sliced bread.”

Although Tracy is young, a lot has changed since she was a child.

“Kids largely do not play the same way as when I was a child,” she said.

“We were out and about the town until the street lights came on, and then it was time to come home.

“We had no landline in the house, so we would walk down to the post office with mum so she could phone her employer to see if she was working the next day.”

Tracy remembers the Majestic Movie Theatre being a highlight of her childhood.

“I remember the big lit up posters out the front advertising what movies were currently showing,” she said.

“Going to the Majestic was a real treat.”

Tracy knew when she came through the front door when the streetlights came on and there was the white slow cooker with blue flowers bubbling away on the bench, she needed to make other arrangements for dinner.

“In that pot cooking away on the bench would be steak and kidney,” she said with a grimace.

The children, Terry, Tracy and later Alison, were made to sit at the table and eat dinner, and not to get up until the dinner was eaten in full.

“One night, Terry had an objection with sitting there until dinner was all gone, so he picked up the bottle of Pop’s tomato sauce and squirting it in my dad’s face,” she recalled laughing.

“Safe to say, I didn’t have to worry about sitting there until dinner was all gone that night.

“It was always a big race to the toilet after dinner so I could get out of washing the dishes.

“I always wanted to wash, not dry. Now I prefer to dry; it’s funny the things you remember.”

Tracy’s father, Adrian, had a long and painful illness before passing on November 23, a week before Tracy turned 18.

This hit quite hard, but being the strong people they are, the family rallied and kept on going.

After trying to navigate life during that difficult time and still go to school, Tracy made the decision to leave school and join the workforce and she has been working ever since.

She began her working life at Woolworths Variety Store, and remained there for many years, as the store gradually changed its name to Crazy Prices and Go Lo.

Tracy was never inclined towards sports, but as she got older, she took part in touch football, Saturday tennis and netball, though noting in those days options for women’s sports were limited. She participated more for the social aspect, and had an active social life.

Thomas Barry Stevens, known in Hay as Badger, was a treasured family friend who was really part of the family.

He taught Tracy how to drive. “He had just bought a green Ford Festiva the week before,” Tracy recalled.

“His driveway was really long, and I was backing out of it. As we were driving down, he was telling me I had a lot of room on the other side and was trying to get me to correct.

"I accidentally hit the accelerator instead of the brake.

“I ended up scraping the side of the car, the damage went all along the side of the car.

“He let out a few choice words and I went home crying.

“It wasn’t long until he was knocking on my door, to make sure I was ok.”

Tracy left town for a time, living in Griffith and working at Barters chicken processing plant.

She came back upon discovering she was expecting her first child, her son Riley Pascoe.

Four months after Riley was born, she returned to work at what was now Gol Lo variety store.

She worked there until becoming pregnant with her daughter, Denzie Pascoe. Badger was over the moon when Tracy’s first child and son, Riley Pascoe, was born.

“My backyard looked into his side yard,” she said. “I used to go to mum for dinner every night.

“One or two times it was so cold I would pass Riley, who was still a baby, over the fence to Mum so she could get him inside quicker, and then I would walk around.

“The next day, Badger put a gate in so we could come and go as we please.” Badger doted on Riley, and played an active role in his early years. He babysat whenever needed, and took Riley to the pool often.

“Riley had just about everything you could think of, but Badger walked him around the block on a lawn mower,” Tracy laughed.

“Badger would put a towel over the lawn mower and walk him right around the block, Riley loved that.”

When Riley lost his first tooth, he got money from Badger, a hundred dollars.

“He was the apple of Badger’s eye, he just adored Riley,” she said.

When Tracy was in hospital having her second child, Denzie, Badger was keenly waiting outside the hospital to be allowed in to see her.

“He marvelled at how perfect she was, “I love talking to people, anyone can tell you that,” she laughed.

“It is the best part of the job, interacting with people, it brightens their day and mine.” clear skin and just like a little doll,” Tracy said.

Tracy values the simplicity of country life and vastly enjoys the customer service aspect of her role in Harrison’s IGA Deli Department.

“I love talking to people, anyone can tell you that,” she laughed.

“It is the best part of the job, interacting with people, it brightens their day and mine.”

She believes COVID changed many aspects of life. A big part of the change in her life is she is not as social as she once was.

“I got through COVID well, and didn’t mind the lockdowns,” she recalled.

“My job didn’t change much, but as many people could attest, wearing a mask for many hours while working was hard sometimes.

“Living with people with health issues, the worry of catching COVID and bringing it back to the household was always in the back of my mind. Ironically, I was the only one in the house to catch COVID, and had it twice.”

Tracy is very similar to her mother, Jenny, in nature and the pair have always been very close.

She loves her mother very much, and is grateful for their closeness.

Both women are workers and always have been, would help anyone who needed a hand, and have pristine houses; you could eat off the floor.

Both women strive hard to take care of the ones they love.

Tracy is an important thread in the fabric which holds a small town together.

Everything about her is the reason why Hay is such a marvellous place to live, and people like Tracy make life that little bit better.