A Dominican Sister and comedian is not your typical combination. But, for Sister Sue Tracy, it was the only way. Tracy, who graduated from Aquinas in 1965 with an English major and minors in biology and speech, is one of the local performers in Gilda’s Club 2012 LaughFest.

“I came to Aquinas anticipating that I was going to join the Adrian Dominicans and I just knew within two months that God wrote straight the crooked line, and this is where I belong,” Tracy said. “I’ve always loved the stage, it’s just who I am. I just somehow felt I could be who I am, even though there are very few of us comedian sisters, so what?”

Tracy’s show, titled “Laff Jest for the Health of It,” is just one example of her dedication to bringing joy and laughter to those around her. A four-time cancer survivor, Tracy has focused much of her ministry on helping others who are facing the disease.

“Being spared is an invitation from God to be with people who are coping with that,” Tracy said of her work as an oncology chaplain at Spectrum Health, where she’s been for 12 years. “I’ll leave [patients] two pages or so with a lot of little one-liners, just to help keep a smile on their face. In the midst of this muck, we need that too, as part of the healing process.”

For Tracy, laughter truly is “the best medicine” and her humor is something she never let cancer take from her. After taking the World Laughter Tour program through OLLI at Aquinas, Tracy is a certified Laughter Leader, and will incorporate her training into her LaughFest performance.

“You don’t have to be a comedian to do this, you learn different exercises that are conducive or induce laughter,” Tracy said, before making her point by giving examples of their various exercises, including becoming an airplane, bouncing along on a New York subway and finally clapping along with the “ho ho hahaha ho ho hahaha ho ho hahaha yaaay” which ends their sessions. “[The performance] is learning through laughter. It’s letting the internal jogging happen, letting the endorphins just kind of take over in a very healthy way.”

Tracy’s performance, which she fondly refers to as the “real Sister Act,” will be on Wednesday, March 14 at 7 p.m. in the Catholic Information Center at Cathedral Square Center (360 Division Ave., Grand Rapids) and will be free of charge.

“I am very excited; I come alive in front of other people,” Tracy said. “I just want people to be comfortable and glad that they’re there. I don’t know who to expect, it doesn’t matter. If there are ten or 200, come on in! There’s room for everybody.”