Rebecca Jane Travnichek

Dr. Rebecca Jane Travnichek went to dance with abandon on the streets of heaven on November 23rd, 2025 after struggling with the effects of early onset Alzheimer's disease for almost a decade. Becky was born in El Dorado, Kansas on July 24th, 1965; she was the first of three children for Ronald and Mary Margaret Young. She spent the first 7.5 years of her life in El Dorado, then moved 30 miles away to Cassoday, population 100 or so, and known as the Prairie Chicken Capital of the World. Becky grew up in a family that believed in the 4H philosophy "Learn by Doing". She was a 13-year member of 4H, competing in County, Regional, and State Fair events primarily in baking, sewing, and clothing. She was an accomplished cook, learning both from her mom and Grandma Teter. She attended Flinthills High School, excelling in the classroom, as well as on both the volleyball and basketball courts, graduating in 1983.

She started college at Emporia State University in the fall and soon met her future husband, Vince, who was living on the same dorm floor. She asked him to a Sadie Hawkins dance, and a few weeks later they realized they attended kindergarten together back in El Dorado. They were married the following summer on July 28th, 1984. She graduated from ESU in the Spring of 1987 with a B.S. in Home Economics and Business while also working 20 hours a week and helping raise their daughter Amanda. She then attended Oklahoma State University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with a Master's Degree in Consumer Economics in 1990 working with OSU Extension on topics related to family financial management. Vince, Becky, and Amanda then moved to Auburn, Alabama where Becky started her Ph.D. program in Agriculture Economics working on diverse topics such as cattle marketing, North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and economic value of recreational fishing in Alabama. She graduated from Auburn University in 1996. During their first year in Auburn, Vince and Becky welcomed their second daughter, Sierra.

Becky took a job with the University of Missouri Extension in the summer of 1996 working in about 20 northwest Missouri counties providing personal financial guidance and education for people of all ages (from six to senior citizens). She worked almost twenty years from her office at the Andrew County Courthouse in Savannah, then she transferred in 2015 to Camdenton working in about a dozen counties in the Ozarks. While she enjoyed helping individuals with budgets, personal finance, and getting out of debt, she especially enjoyed giving a program called "Who gets grandma's yellow pie plate", a workshop providing education to older people about after their passing the biggest family fights won't likely be about their money, rather the $1 pie plate in their cupboard that everyone wants. She also enjoyed providing about 400 free tax returns annually to those with lower incomes and the elderly. Unfortunately, her early onset dementia started causing her issues with her ability to do her job and she had to leave extension in 2018 after 22 years of service.

Whether it be Sunday lunches at Grandpa and Grandma Teter's house, time at Poppy and Grammy's, or cookouts at Camp YaYa, Becky enjoyed her family and cherished time spent with them. Becky loved traveling around the US and visited every state except Hawaii. Becky enjoyed collecting old kitchen junk, and her kitchen and dining room walls looked like Cracker Barrel on steroids. She loved helping her daughters with 4H, especially helping take care of their show heifers, spending many days washing and blow-drying the cattle, and spending several weeks in hot barns each summer as they travelled all over for various livestock shows. Becky was an excellent country-western dancer, skilled at two-stepping, line dancing, waltzing, country swing, and the Cotton-eyed Joe. Becky was also a voracious reader, often finishing three to four romance novels each week. Becky loved going to dance recitals and cattle shows watching her grand-daughter Savannah and also cheering on grand-daughter Kinslee at basketball and softball games. She also loved to fish. Whether at Uncle Eldon's watershed lake, from her and Vince's boat, or even ice fishing, she thought she was a better angler than her husband. Unfortunately for Vince, their last two big trips to Canada and the Texas Gulf proved her correct.

Becky was preceded in death by her mother; youngest brother Matt; both sets of grandparents Ewing/Rachel Teter and Frank/Wilma Young; uncles Eldon Teter, Jim Teter, and Ron Langhofer; and her aunt Judy Langhofer. She is survived by her husband Vince of Camdenton; daughter Amanda Evans (Mitch) of Moulton, Iowa; daughter Sierra Travnichek (husband Craig Berry) of Sunrise Beach, Missouri; grandkids Savannah Evans and Kinslee Travnichek; father Ronnie Young of Cassoday, Kansas; brother Randy Young (Juli) of Howard, Kansas; sister-in-law Laurie Young of Towanda, Kansas; Aunt Lynnie of Eureka, Kansas; Aunt Deb of Burns, Kansas; Uncle Bob and Aunt Patsy Watkins also of Burns; and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

Becky found Christ in the summer of 2007 at the age of 42. Sierra was attending a church youth group in St Joseph, Missouri that was planning a mission trip to Mexico, and Sierra wanted her to go too. She convinced Becky to go with the group, and before the week-long trip to Mexico was completed, they were both baptized there. Becky was an active and mission-oriented member of her churches in both St. Joseph and Camdenton, whether cooking dinner at Valley Community Center on St. Joseph's southside, dinner before Wednesday church youth groups in Camdenton, or meals for church canoe camp on the Current River; helping make 400 dozen enchiladas in a day or 400 apple pies in the fall for mission fund-raising; helping teach Financial Peace University to church members; or leading the Disciple Women's Fellowship group, she was always looking for opportunities to help people. That was just who she was.

Celebrations of Life will be held in both Camdenton, Missouri and Cassoday, Kansas. The first service will be on December 13th at 11 AM (lunch to follow) in Camdenton at Community Christian Church. The second service will be on January 3rd at 11 AM (lunch to follow) in Cassoday at the Community Center (also known as the Senior Center or Municipal Building). Memorials should be given to your favorite mission.