Aberdeen STEM maven who died suddenly at 52 inspired family, peers, students

ABERDEEN – On social media, influencers are paid for their ability to push brands on consumers.

In the real world, Tracey Tokarski had a more enduring influence. She shared her passion for science in the classroom, mentored young teachers and raised children who followed her into careers that also require a caring touch.

Tokarski loved butterflies, and was the force of nature behind the Monarch Butterfly Garden at St. Joan of Arc School in Aberdeen, where kids learn about botany, entomology and geography.

Her chrysalis began to unfold fully last May, when it was announced that Tokarski would move from assistant principal to principal for the 2021-22 school year.

Students never got to greet her in that capacity. On vacation in Grenada with her husband, Bill, Tokarski suffered a pulmonary embolism July 23 and died. She was 52, and ready to embrace the next phase of a calling to which she seemed born.

Calling

“Tracey was driven, faithful and humble,” said Ginger Bahr, whose retirement as St. Joan of Arc principal opened a door for her colleague. “She also had a great sense of humor. Because of COVID, we had a low-key retreat for our teachers last year. It included a scavenger hunt, in and around Havre de Grace. She was on the Monarch team. They dressed as butterflies.”

Born and raised on Long Island, Tracey Savino had never set foot in a Catholic school until she entered what is now Notre Dame of Maryland University for her undergraduate studies.

Tokarski began her career in public schools, but was drawn back to Catholic schools. She taught at St. Joseph School in Cockeysville until 2014, when she joined St. Joan of Arc School.

“She was teaching full-time, was our STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) coordinator, and was getting her second master’s degree, in Leadership in Teaching STEM,” Bahr said.

In addition to that load, Tokarski juggled a family, too.

Her oldest, Miranda Stepp, a graduate of Mercy High School, is a high school English teacher and mother of a 1-year-old. Emma is a nurse at University of Maryland St. Joseph’s Hospital in Towson. Will, who went to The John Carroll School in Bel Air, is a mortgage loan officer. All three went to St. Margaret School in Bel Air, where Bahr was Will’s first-grade teacher.

Tokarski also kept the books for her husband’s business, Champion Plumbing and Heating.

“She ran my office, completely,” Bill said. “Tracey had her hands on everything. She was a perfectionist. When she went after her graduate degrees, she wanted a 4.0.”

Better yourself

Tokarski’s energy and vision helped St. Joan of Arc School become the first in the state to achieve STEM certification through Cognia, an international accrediting organization, testament to a personality that fellow faculty members described as “assertive” and “fierce.”

“Her generosity and compassion helped us survive each COVID school day,” Alexa Kopp, new to teaching last year, shared with Tokarski’s family. “Her assurance and confidence comforted me when I thought all was lost. She saw in me what I could not see in myself.”

That support was not limited to rookies.

“Tracey encouraged you to better yourself,” said Megan Blackburn, a middle-school religion teacher in her eighth year at St. Joan of Arc.

Tokarski made presentations at national conferences with Juliann Dupuis, one of her professors at NDMU, and traveled to Mexico, where the  monarchs winter.

“When a butterfly emerged at school, you could hear the excitement in our hallways,” Bahr said. “She tagged them, and our sister school (in Mexico) tracked their migration patterns.”

Tokarski won friends throughout the Archdiocese of Baltimore, as the Department of Catholic Schools has rallied around St. Joan of Arc School. Archbishop William E. Lori prayed with the family during visitation. Twenty-nine years after he officiated at the wedding of Tracey and Bill, Monsignor Kevin Schenning, their former pastor, offered her funeral Mass at St. Margaret.

St. Joan of Arc School’s opening liturgy for the school year Sept. 14 included a theme for 2020-21 that is a nod to Tokarski: “Encounter God’s Presence in Creation.”

Bill Tokarski was there, along with Emma, who will marry Nov. 20, the day before her parents’ anniversary. They received a bouquet from students, whose COVID-19 masks included a butterfly decoration, like the one worn by Father Willie Franken, pastor.

As interim principal Dianne Kestler shared, “Know that we feel her presence every day, especially when we see caterpillars and butterflies.”

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