Travis Kenneth Hickman

He was born on July 31, 1926, in Crossett, Arkansas to Arnold Merritt Hickman and Nettie Nixon Hickman. He grew up in Hermitage, Arkansas. At age 17, he was a WWII volunteer in the Navy Seabees (Construction Battalion). His Basic Training was in Galveston, Texas. From there he was sent to Iwo Jima during the U.S. assault on that island and was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received there during the fighting. Selected for the V-12 Program (Navy ROTC) at the University of Utah, he attended college there until the war ended. He then attended Louisiana Tech University, where he was President of Theta Xi Fraternity, Vice President/Marshal of Sigma Tau Delta, and a member of the Interfraternity Council. After graduating from Louisiana Tech with a B.A. in Art, he was employed by Texas Eastern Transmission Corp. as a photographer. On August 31, 1951, he married Vada Castleberry of Farmville, Arkansas, and in 1952 they moved to Baytown, where he became a dispatcher for Texas Eastern, then a measurement technician. He retired from Texas Eastern in 1985. His hobbies included painting, bowling and photography. He also coached the Baytown Little League basketball team, “The Dribblers.”

Preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Vada, and his parents, he leaves behind children - Jan Hill and husband Russell of Helena, Montana; Joy Hickman of Albuquerque, New Mexico; and John Hickman of Baytown. He is also survived by three grandchildren - Amy Woods Montoya, Emma Hill, and Anna Hill and two great-grandchildren - Joseph Montoya and Mark Dean Johnson III.

He was a devoted family man, and his frequent anecdotes and playfully dry wit will be missed.