Tracey Retires As Executive Director of North Central Connecticut Chamber of Commerce

When Larry Tracey locked the North Central Connecticut Chamber of Commerce office Monday afternoon, he officially closed the door on 35 years of involvement with that organization.

Tracey, the executive director of the Chamber since 2002, has retired, but does not plan to sit back and rest on his laurels.

"I don't want to sit and get stale," he said in an exclusive interview Friday, shortly before a party in his honor at the Holiday Inn in Enfield. "My immediate plans are to work part time, which will afford me the hours and opportunity to spend time with my grandchildren and my wife. Michele. There's been a lot of nights when my wife had to sit home and have dinner by herself because I was in a committee meeting."

Tracey, who moved to Enfield with his wife and daughters in 1969, worked as a claims adjuster for the Travelers Insurance Co. until the mid-1970s. He then started an Enfield branch office of the Glastonbury Insurance Agency.

"For the first three months, I worked out of my house," he recalled, "then we opened an office on Enfield Street, across from Dairy Queen."

In short order, Tracey was able to get a loan and buy his book of business from Glastonbury Insurance, forming the Tracey Insurance Agency in 1976. That same year, he began his three decades-plus association with the NCCCC.

"There was a little article in the newspaper that said Business After Hours, so I dialed the number and decided to go," he said. "In those days, it cost two bucks to attend, but new members were free. Marcel St. Sauveur was executive director of the Chamber, and he grabbed my hand and introduced me to about half a dozen people. The next day, I went to his office on Hazard Ave., filled out an application and became a Chamber member."

Tracey became active in numerous Chamber activities, including the annual golf tournament, Breakfast Connections and Business After Hours. He was elected to the board of directors in the late 1980s, then later served on the executive board, including a term as president in 2001.

In the meantime, he sold his business to the Burns, Brooks & McNeil agency, but continued to work with them for several more years. St. Sauveur stepped down as Chamber executive director, and a series of people took charge without success, until former Enfield mayor Roxy Burke assumed the post in 2000.

When Burke fell ill, Tracey was named interim director, and was hired as the permanent director when Burke passed away in 2002.

As the head of the organization, Tracey oversaw events such as the annual Home and Products Show and the Business to Business Showcase, and was instrumental in securing the Chamber's current location in the New Alliance Bank building on Hazard Ave.

"You can't get any better visibility than we have,"  he said. "Route 190 is the main thoroughfare in town, and it connects Suffield, Enfield and Somers."

Tracey would like more business owners to recognize the benefits of Chamber membership. "Chambers are continually striving to promote the benefits of membership," he said. "Many people don't even know what a Chamber is. It's there to promote business and support the people in the community."

Community service has always been part of Tracey's makeup. He is a past president of the Enfield Rotary Club, and was one of the founders of the Enfield Rotary Classic, a holiday basketball tournament that has raised more than $20,000 for the girls basketball programs at both Fermi and Enfield High Schools.

He spent more than three decades as a football and basketball official, served a stint as president of the Central Connecticut Association of Football Officials, and was inducted into that organization's Hall of Fame. He was presented the George Daly Special Recognition Award by the Enfield Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008.

Gary Cote, owner of Hangman Wallpaper & Paint and a member of the Chamber of Commerce board of directors, said Tracey will be sorely missed. "I've appreciated Larry's help as a networking system," Cote said. "I've been hanging paper for 20 years, and a lot of it is because I belong to an organization like this. It's evolved into a larger membership of small businesses like myself, which for me is good."

Lucille Deschaine, administrative assistant at the Chamber since 1989, said, "Larry's been wonderful. He's more than a boss - he's been a friend, a confidante, a financial advisor. He's everything to me."

Asked what he will miss the most, Tracey immediately answered, "I'll miss the camaraderie and interaction with the members and the staff. There's a trust that's been developed between me and them. I will miss (business manager) Melissa Regini and Lucille so much. Melissa is a super gal, and Lucille has been here for eons. She's a sweetheart, and has been like a second wife to me."