Tess Baacke's phone screensaver is a picture of herself as a young child, making a silly face next to her smiling mom, Tara. Sunflowers and cardinals are fleeting reminders of Tara's favorite flowers and birds. Tess keeps a special bracelet in her bedroom that Tara once wore.
When Tess recalls a memory of her mom, she writes it in a special file on her Notes app. Many are warm and sweet — Tara taking Tess and her friends to get stuffed animals when they were bored at her brothers' sports games, for example. But Tess also saves the difficult memories. In 2013, Tara was diagnosed with glioblastoma and battled the brain cancer for three years before passing away in 2016. Tess was seven years old.
"I even put the bad stuff, because I just want to be reminded of anything of her," Tess said. "I have a ton of different things, like the nursing home that she had to go to and all that stuff. I think it's still important to remember all that and remember how much you've overcome."
Tess is a junior at Medfield High and one of the stars on the reigning MIAA Div. 2 champion Warriors. She has now spent more than half of her life without her mom and those memories become more precious every day. Tess loves to talk about Tara's infectious energy, the way she cared for her family and how beloved she was in town.
And importantly, Tess doesn't want people to feel bad for her. This story — as much about the Baacke family and the town of Medfield as it is about Tess — has a happy ending.
