Edmunds Travis Jr.

We deeply mourn the loss of Edmunds Travis, who retained the suffix Jr. as a lifelong tribute to his father, Edmunds Travis, a well-known Austin, Texas newspaperman and one-time part owner of the Austin Statesman (now Austin American Statesman). Edmunds Jr.’s mother was Winifred (May) Travis.

Edmunds Jr. was born on August 13, 1926 in Austin, Texas and died two weeks shy of his 99th Birthday on August 1, 2025. He attended Schreiner Military Institute, Austin High School, and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin Law School (B.A., LL.B).

A proud member of the “Greatest Generation,” Edmunds served in the Military Police at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas, and later in the Judge Advocate General Corps (JAG) in Europe, during the Allied Occupation of Germany. He retired from the U.S. Army Reserve after more than twenty years, with the rank of Major.

Edmunds served as Assistant Attorney General of Texas, before joining the Legal Department of Humble Oil and Refining Company, later fully acquired by Standard Oil of New Jersey, eventually Exxon / ExxonMobil.

Edmunds rose to the rank of Chief Attorney in Exxon’s Legal Department, Natural Gas Section. This followed memorable assignments in Africa and the Middle East (most notably Esso Libya before and after the Gaddafi takeover), as well as at corporate headquarters in New York, and with Esso Exploration.

He was admitted to practice Law, as follows: 1951: Texas; 1963: U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Court of Military Appeals; 1964: U.S. Claims Court; 1975: District of Columbia; 1980: U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit; 1984: U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit; 1975: U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

After his retirement, Edmunds became a founding partner in the Law Firm of Travis & Gooch (Washington, D.C. and Houston), representing clients before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), among others. In all of his distinguished career, he was supported by his first wife, Mary (Daugherty) Travis (d. 1991), and their son, Edmunds B. Travis, now a retired Landman.

Ed met the second love of his life, Marie (Delgado) Travis, in Spain in 1992. They married in Puerto Rico two years later, and celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary earlier this year. In that precious, too brief time, they enjoyed many common interests, including Shakespeare, history and genealogy.

It is difficult to summarize a good man’s life in one page. Each chapter of Edmunds’ rich life merits an entire book. Perhaps only Shakespeare can come close to expressing what a kind, modest, loving and forgiving man Edmunds was, and how he touched so many lives:

His life was gentle, and the elements so mixed in him that Nature might stand And say to all the world “This was a Man!”

— Julius Caesar

May Edmunds rest in God’s eternal Glory!