Travis Barrow passed away Tuesday, January 10, 2023. It was the end of a battle with Multiple Myeloma, one that many of us thought that he was winning... But there is no winning. There is only the battle and the hope for some resultant delay.
Travis’ heart had given out previously, several months before, in a hospital room in Little Rock. Though exhausted by the fight, he was in that instance allowed to return. This time he remained away. We cannot ask why, and we are not allowed to know, but we feel certain he had his reasons.
Travis Barrow was born in Camden, Arkansas on February 8, 1958. He attended Catholic High School in Little Rock and completed his education at Oklahoma State University, where he met his wife Sarah Friese. It was the luckiest day of his life, and, the thing is Travis was smart enough to know it. Travis and Sarah married in 1981 and set out on a life together that took them to Tulsa, Atlanta, back through Little Rock and finally to Edmond, Oklahoma where they settled permanently.
Travis was knowledgeable and capable of doing pretty much anything. He worked as an owner and a salesman in the glass business for many years before joining his friends in an oil and gas company in his later years. Those friends will miss him dearly. The days will not be the same without lunch with Travis. The rest of the day was just drudgery, by comparison.
Travis was a skilled gardener, a lover of a fine lawn, and a man who was perfectly willing to tend to a neighbor's crabgrass if necessary. He was an avid golfer, and an unusually good one, having actually played at Augusta National... twice. He was a man who enjoyed a good vice from time to time, puffing on a cigar, neck-deep in the pool, perhaps a cocktail beverage in his hand. But he made no bones about it. He was a Christian and he was going to be, and now is, with his Savior. He always joked that he was going to Heaven and that he would miss some of us. That statement suddenly seems more poignant.
Sarah and Travis had three children; Aaron, who lives in Washington DC; Abbey (Brooks), and Audrey; both girls reside in Edmond, Oklahoma. Travis is also survived by one grandchild, Abbey's son, Colter; by his mother and father, Wanda and Don Barrow of Little Rock, AR; and his sister, Donnette Napier (David), also of Little Rock. Travis has a plethora of nephews, niece, cousins, aunts and uncles who survive him and will miss his antics. Travis loved his family, and adored them all. They were his rock. He was happiest at home with his family and his dog, Pete. From the hospital in Little Rock, he said that all he wanted was to get home, to face whatever was to come, in his chair, with his dog in his lap. He did just that.
That is not to say that Travis did not enjoy the journey or an adventure. Travis loved adventure. A walking contradiction, Travis was a man who hated to fly and would not get on a commercial airline willingly, but he loved flying to the Texas coast, often wearing a parachute in the back of a military aircraft. "Ya gotta go private," he would laugh. He confessed a hatred for seafood but ate more shrimp than any person that we have ever seen. "Shrimp isn't seafood," he would say, "shrimp is shrimp." But he stuck to his guns when it came to mushrooms and olives -- Not gonna eat ‘em.
Irascible and funny, Travis was not a man who sought confrontation but he enjoyed a good disagreement. He had little patience for trendy tomfoolery and spent his mornings in the office explaining exactly why to his like-minded friends, mired in their own tomfoolery. He loved his peaceful days at home, sitting on a bucket, catching pitches for his kids or placing balls on a tee, but he was equally happy wearing out a softball umpire for reasons that he considered obvious, all in the name of affection. Nobody was to mess with Travis' people. He was fiercely loyal to his family, and friends... and to OSU. Travis bled orange. Go Pokes.
There is no way to put into words the enormity of this man. Not here. But know that he will be greatly missed; and the size of the void that he leaves offers ample evidence of the scope of Travis Barrow.
A memorial service celebrating the life of Travis will be held on Monday, January 16, 2023 at 2 p.m. at the Baggerley Funeral Home Chapel, 930 S. Broadway, Edmond, OK 73034. Gifts may be made in memory of Travis Barrow to support his favorite agriculture television show, SUNUP on OETA. Checks should be made payable to OSU Foundation with “SUNUP TV 21-52200” in the memo line and mailed to the OSU Foundation, PO Box 1749, Stillwater, OK 74076-1749. Online contributions can be made by going tohttps://secure.osugiving.com/s/giving/annual?dsgt=21-52200 and by entering “SUNUP TV” in the notes section.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.baggerley.com for the Barrow family.
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