Earl B. Travis

Obituary
EARL B. TRAVIS
ITHACA - In the fall of 1936, Earl "Bissell" Travis of Birmingham, Alabama arrived at the Lehigh Valley train station in Ithaca, NY, to attend the Engineering School at Cornell University. While at Cornell he became the house manager for the SAE fraternity, rowed on the crew team, learned to fly at the Hangar (now Theatre) as part of his ROTC training, and in 1940 graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He and Phebe Laura Allen, daughter of birdman, "Doc" Allen, Professor of Ornithology at Cornell, married August 30, 1940.From 1941 to 1945, he served in the armed forces in World War II. He rose quickly in rank, and at the age of 26 was the youngest Lieutenant Colonel in the 8th Army and in charge of ordinance supply for General McArthur's planned invasion of Japan. Following the Japanese surrender, he was in charge of disarming the local populace and told of dumping boatloads of weapons in Yokihama Bay.After the war, he took a job as an Industrial Engineer with Gaylord Container Corporation in Atlanta, Georgia where he and Phebe moved with their 3-year old son, Mack. Their daughter, Tekla, was born in 1947 while they were in Atlanta, and in 1949, not content to move with Gaylord to Jersey City, he took a promising position with Jameison-McKinney, a plumbing and heating firm that had been in business since 1873 in downtown Ithaca, NY. In 1950, their third child, Wendy, was born. A promised partnership in the plumbing firm failed to materialize, and in 1951, Bissell moved his family south again to Nashville, Tennessee where he established his own business, Air Conditioning Sales & Service, and became a dealer for Carrier Corporation. In Nashville, he and Phebe built their house; he joined Kiwanis, and the family became active members of West End Methodist Church. In the 1960's, through the International Christian Youth Exchange program, they sent their son, Mack, to Sweden for a year after high school and their daughter, Tekla, for a year to Holland. They hosted an exchange student from France and another from Germany each for a year in their home. These student exchanges have created warm ties that still exist 40 years later between the families involved.At the age of 40, he closed Air Conditioning Sales & Service and began a second career starting a Nashville branch of Equipment Engineering and Materials Handling, which he ran until his retirement.Throughout his life, Bissell was an avid craftsman and woodworker. While in Nashville he resumed flying and joined the Experimental Aircraft Association. With a close friend he built and flew two airplanes, a Baby Ace and a Luscomb. He also built a sailboat and a 22-foot Chris Craft (Kit) Cruiser that the family enjoyed for years on the Nashville waters.During their time together, he and Phebe traveled to Mexico and Europe, and took a cross-country trip of epic proportions. In 1971, they suffered the loss of their daughter, Tekla, who died at the age of 23 leaving behind 2-year old twins. In their last years together they enjoyed their five grand children and their numerous pets, including a squirrel they named Squiddel, saved as a baby from a downed tree in the yard and who had the run of the house. On January 5th 1980, at the age of 58, Phebe died only a month after having been diagnosed with acute leukemia.Although devastated by the loss of Phebe, with the help of family and friends and a letter of sympathy from Margery Sauter Copeland, a former Cornell sweetheart and sorority sister of Phebe's, he gradually recovered. On April 23, 1981, he and Marge were married in Greensboro, NC. They returned to Nashville and after his retirement several years later built a house in Boca Raton and began dividing time between Ithaca in the summers and Florida in the winters. During his time in Ithaca, Bissell began to work actively with his son in their business, Travis & Travis, Real Estate Development, and he and Marge invested repeatedly in real estate ventures with Wendy and her husband, Larry Wallace in Greensboro, and Mack and his wife, Carol, in Ithaca. He joined Rotary and he and Marge traveled extensively-with Cornell Adult University to the Caribbean and Scandinavia, with friends to Alaska, and together with their faithful Pekinese, Misty, in their motor home on trips around the US and Canada.On September 20, 2005 Earl Bissell Travis died peacefully at Bridges Cornell Heights at the age of 87. He was surrounded and supported by his family - his wife of 24 years, Margery Sauter Travis; his son, Mack Allen Travis of Ithaca; his daughter, Wendy Travis Wallace of Greensboro, NC; as well as the loving staff of Bridges and Hospice. Born the fifth and youngest child of Edna Byers and Mack Olin Travis on September 14, 1918 in Birmingham, AL, Bissell grew up under the statue of Vulcan on Southwest 16th Street. He attended summer camp in Wisconsin, played tennis, rode horses, rebuilt model A's, and had a German Shepherd named Rex.As well as his wife, son, and daughter, he is survived by his daughter-in-law, Carol Travis of Ithaca, NY; his son-in-law, Larry Wallace of Greensboro, NC; and his five grandchildren, Elsa and her husband, Chris Hyde of Jackson, Mississippi, Travis and his wife, Tacy of Missoula, Montana, Dallas Gordon of Asheville NC, Frost and his wife, Kate Travis of Edgewater, NJ, and Wellsley and her husband, Matthew Robinson of Chapel Hill, NC. He is also survived by three great-grandchildren, Elizabeth and Tristan Hyde, and Travis Gordon, Jr. His children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, and stepchildren and step grandchildren are pleased to remember their father, "Uncle Bissell," "Uncle Boots," and "Opa," with fond and lasting memories of a family oriented Christian man with high moral standards and a giving heart.A memorial service will be held Saturday, November 19, 2005, 11:30 a.m. at Anabel Taylor Chapel. All are welcome to attend.In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to Christian Message Through Art, 1112 West Market Street, Greensboro, NC 27403. Condolences may be emailed to:EBTravis@christianmessagethroughart.com.