By Terry Haycock, VPC Treasurer

There may be many people who live with two cats, but only one I know of whose cats share a companion turtle.

One such pet lover is our new co-president, Tracy Perkins.

Adopted by her daughter Cora during the pandemic, the family’s mellow black cat Kurt (after Nirvana’s singer Kurt Cobain) and gray-brown tabby Percy (after Persephone, Queen of the Underworld) are housemates with turtle “Turtle,” now known as “Kevin.” (He was rescued from a college biology lab in 1990.)

But our new co-president isn’t just an animal lover.

Raised in the mountains in Bluefield, a twin city covering two states (West Virginia and southwest Virginia), Tracy earned a Bachelor of Science degree in communications with a concentration in public relations and journalism from Radford University, Radford, Va., in 1993.

Tracy attributes some of her most influential learning moments to her time there, including work-study in the University Public Relations Office and as a Richmond Times-Dispatch campus correspondent.

The Perkins family welcomed Kurt and Percy in 2020 during the pandemic, joining their longtime turtle, Kevin, shown during a rare turtle race in their backyard — complete with a finish line marked with sticky-note flags.

After graduation, Tracy was a reporter for The Virginia Gazette from 1993 to 1999. There she covered public and private education, government, features and spot news in Williamsburg, James City County and York County. She was a news team contributor to the paper, winning 1995’s Virginia Press Association Award for Journalistic Integrity and Public Service.

In 1999, Tracy was introduced to Virginia Press Women (now Virginia Professional Communicators) by longtime member Debby Padgett, her mentor and boss at the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation where Tracy continues to serve as media relations specialist. Debby encouraged Tracy to attend conferences and become an active member. In 2003, Tracy assisted with arrangements for the Virginia Press Women conference at Jamestown Settlement.

Later, in 2007, Tracy and Debby assisted with the NFPW (National Federation of Press Women) conference in Richmond. She also helped coordinate arrangements for the two-day Historic Triangle tour and program development. In 2011 and 2012, she assisted with the Virginia Press Women Communications Contest.

Asked why she enjoys VPC, Tracy said, “I am amazed at the level of talent in the room and vast experiences of our members. We are always learning new things from each other. I like that.”

Tracy’s favorite genre is feature writing, including moments of unusual circumstances. Her 1995 Virginia Press Association award was just for such a news story she stumbled on upon just by answering the phone.

A woman had just been arrested for attacking the new love of her former boyfriend. The woman was Tracy Lippard, Miss Williamsburg, 1993. (The case, of national interest, was also covered by The Washington Post and The New York Times and later made into a Lifetime movie.)

Tracy loves storytelling through photography, especially natural landscapes and documentary styles. Shown (from left) are scenes of yellow roses blooming at her home, a view of the New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia, a slice of life on a Sunday morning in Puerto Rico and a botanical garden in Barbados.

At the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation for the past 25 years, Tracy has shared little-known stories of America’s past with travel writers, film producers and media, and supported four national commemorations, including America’s 250th anniversary. The foundation is hosting this year’s VPC spring conference on May 3. Plan to join us.

But Tracy isn’t all about work. When it comes to music, Tracy has eclectic tastes ranging from Johnny Cash (whom she saw as a child at the West Virginia State Fair), The Beatles and Bob Dylan to alternative and rockabilly such as the Pixies and Social Distortion.

She enjoys thriller novels, historical fiction, and crime novels. Adriana Trigiani’s “Big Stone Gap” is also a favorite as they both grew up in the Appalachian mountains.

Tracy says she is “a friendly, no-frills, transparent person.”

She attributes this to growing up in the West Virginia mountains where life was simple. Tracy and husband John have lived in Williamsburg for 32 years. 

Their daughter Cora, a junior at Virginia Commonwealth University, is Tracy’s VPC co-president and remains her biggest achievement.

She contends her proudest achievement is her daughter, Cora, a junior at VCU and VPC co-president.

As mentioned above, our May 3 spring conference hosted at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown will be a perfect time to meet both. You will be delighted.