On the night of Friday September 12 David Travis passed away in his chair at work. From what we can tell his death was mundane, quick, and easy.

     Though it pains us who survived greatly for his loss, we are confident that he died happy, and content with his life.

     Dad suffered from a number of ailments, the two major ones being a life threatening heard condition, the result of his previous heart attack, and Diabetes. While his death was a shock in it's suddenness we are relieved that it was not a painful death, and I am personally very thankful to God that he died quickly, rather than rotting away waiting for the moment to arrive. I estimate that he died at approximately 7:30 Pacific Time, and one of his coworkers who had spoke with him at 7:00 said that when they talked he said he felt like shit, but that he didn't feel any worse than usual.

     As I'm sure many of you have heard I
believe that Dad died at, if there is such a thing, a good time. For years he has struggled to turn his music into something, and fought to keep himself in work. I can confidently say that my dad's only fear was that he would become useless, or a burden to the family.

     This is why I say he died at a good time. While he was doubtlessly happy with his life, the recent months were filled with elements of joy for him. Only a short while ago, about 2 months Dad and I spent 2 weeks driving up to Wyoming to see Grandpa, Grandma, and my uncle Jeff. Though I can't recall if he said it or not, I believe this was one of the best times of his life, and his last great road trip. on the way up we were able to visit the Carlsbad Caverns, in it's entirety, which he had always wanted to do.

     Upon returning home things only got better. Though his condition would never get any better he seemed to have been rejuvenated by our trip, and though he must have known his time was short, though none of us thought this short, he was happy. For years he has been writing music, as I'm sure many of you know, and it finally started to pay itself off. He had always felt that this perfect outlet of his thoughts would not pay itself off, and had always tried to work from home, and in these last few weeks it did just that, and he did, and scheduled several home-jobs.

     One of the other great loves of my dad's life has always been his instruments, which not only played the sounds of his music, but connected his listeners to his soul. In the last couple of months he finally got the only two things he's ever wanted besides me and mom, a baritone 12-string guitar, and a fretless Bass guitar. I personally have no idea how he played either of the damn things, but they are wonderful instruments, and I think still very much a part of my dad.

     There are a million things I could say, and a million things I could leave out. so I leave you with this:

     "We never know how much time we
      have with those we love, so we should
      spend all the time we can. However
      inevitably they will pass, and so shall
      we, but we must know that the time we
      spent with them is worth
      immeasurably more than the times we
      didn't."

     I don't know what the last thing my dad thought was, and I don't care too. The first time he had an attack, when he came back he said he saw before him large iron gates, and that god told him he needed to take care of us and finish his music. Now I don't know if he thinks its done or not, but tonight I listened to the song he was working on, and I don't think anything could make it better.

     I know that wherever his soul is now he is at peace, and I pray only that God protect and care for him. If there ever was someone who fulfilled their goal in life, it is my dad.

Mitch Travis