Allison tells about pranking dual personalities in her "Who am I?" Presentation
At her birth in New Brighton, Pennsylvania, her mother picked the name Allison Tracy but the nurses told her about Peyton Place's promiscuous Allison MacKenzie, As a result, Allison was known as Tracy by most of her friends. Allison told the club, "They often asked who Allison? Suddenly an idea popped in my head, I said 'Oh she’s my sister', my now twin to no end. I continued that game as long as I could, I even made it as both girls in my school year books!" The prank was revealed when other twins wanted play dates with the popular Ally & Tracy.
She was quite the prankster. She let the Rotarians know that her mom "worked morning till night to put food on the table. She’d leave us a note and a quarter for the local pool. I was a creative child that loved to explore. I played on the roof, with fire and more. The police and fire departments knew me well, because I was the cute little redhead that gave them hell." She was a third child of four kids until her mom remarried. She said, "With a new dad and two sisters, we were now a family of eight. We moved to Tierra Santa, and I became an official Navy Brat."
Allison told a lyrical story about how she started in gymnastics. In 7th grade, she saw an amazing girl easily tumbling. She said,
"I went to the library and took home a book that illustrated tumbling, and I was hooked!
On weekends I practiced and followed each step that I read. I tumbled and tumbled and landed many times on my head.
Oh I was determined to master those moves. I worked on those skills until I was sore and bruised.
Finally it happened, and I earned my dream. I was a self-taught gymnast that made the team!
I loved athletics with a competitive mind, especially gymnastics it had beautiful lines.
My gym career highlight was when I was 16, I competed against an Olympian and oh what a dream.
I earned 3rd place, but I didn’t care. I stood next to an Olympian, and she had brown hair."
She loved her career as an EMT. At a work party, she met Steve. He asked her to dance for several dances while her date just ate the food. Steve got her number from a friend and kept calling. One day at work, he had traded to be her partner for the entire day, They kissed at the end of their shift and started secretly dating. After they were married October 1989, they moved to Fallbrook for Stephen’s career and had two children. She became a paramedic in 1991 working in Hemet and then San Diego.
In 1997 when she became sick with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), she woke up paralyzed. She learned to walk again; she had two toddlers requiring care. She looked beyond the challenge and found the hidden blessings in all the stress. She has more time for family, her hobbies and friends. She joined a school with service dogs and adopted Bindy. She has coached gymnastics & cheerleading. To her, servicing at the Angel Shop and Rotary have truly been the best!
Ally and her son in San Diego when she trained him. What a “mom” moment!
The Rotarians enjoyed learning more about Allison, particularly Chuck Ibold and Karen Utley watching via Zoom.