Travis grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, and attended Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, graduating with a BA in music education in 1960.Fulfilling a service obligation out of college, he entered the U.S. Army and found a home there. He served 28 years as an Armor officer in tactical units, on headquarters staffs from battalion through Department of Army and in teaching assignments in service schools and at the Army’s Command and General Staff College. His overseas assignments included seven years in Germany and two in the Republic of Vietnam. On retirement from the Army in the grade of lieutenant colonel, Travis opened an insurance agency in Burke, VA, representing one of the major multi-line carriers. He still actively manages the agency.

He became a Rotarian in 1992 and was elected president of the Burke Rotary Club for 1994-95.He has served on the club board in various positions continuously since 1993 and has published the club bulletin for the past nine years. At the district level, he has worked for eight district governors, initially as Area Representative, then as Assistant District Governor during the transition to the new district leadership plan, as chairman of the “Fulfill Our Promise to Eradicate Polio“ campaign in 2002-03 and as chair of the Foundation’s Annual Giving Committee since then. During the polio campaign, District 7610’s total contribution was second highest of the 13 districts in Zone 33, and the district’s 2003-04 annual giving total was the highest in district history.

Travis is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow, a charter member of the District 7610 Paul Harris Society, a Rotary Foundation Benefactor, a recipient of Rotary International’s “Four Avenues of Service Citation for Individual Rotarians” and has twice been awarded the Rotary Foundation District Service Award.  He has maintained perfect attendance since becoming a Rotarian. Travis and his wife Susan, also a Paul Harris Fellow, live in Clifton, VA. They have been married 47 years and have three daughters and five grandsons.