In tribute: Travis Foster - willing to try anything

Funny, athletic, positive, and ornery -- just a few words used to describe Travis Foster.

But what seemed to stand out about him the most, according to his family, was his willingness to try anything.

And try anything, he did.

He was a Marine, a school teacher, a cattle rancher and orchard farmer, an artist, and a deep-sea fisherman. He participated in theater, square dancing, water aerobics, Tai Chi, golf, yoga, and exercise classes. He played the mandolin, ukulele, guitar, banjo, and harmonica. He was a bicyclist who, at 45 years old, rode his bike 1,735 miles from California to New Mexico. He and his wife, Janelle, traveled the world and the United States and sailed the Adriatic Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and Panama Canal.

"He wasn't afraid to do anything. He tried everything," said his son, Mark Foster, of Stockton, California. "He was a weekend man; he liked to do things on the weekend. You work hard as a school teacher, and on the weekends, he wanted to have fun. He loved the outdoors, plain and simple. He liked the sun, hot or not."

Foster died on Jan. 13 at age 85. A Rogers High School and Eastern New Mexico University graduate, Foster served in the Marine Corps from 1954 to 1957 where he received the Good Conduct Medal, Nation Defense Medal, and Sharpshooter Medal. In Tracy, California, where he lived for more than 30 years, he served as mayor and a city councilor and was a school teacher for 29 years before moving back to his roots in Portales.

"He was very social," said Janelle Foster, adding that another trait that largely stood out about her husband was the fact that everyone who knew him loved him.

"Anyone who talked to him, they just got a kick out of everything he was saying. He kept people laughing constantly," she said. "He had a great personality."

Janelle said her husband had a bumper sticker on his car that read, "Life is terrific."

"And that pretty much sums him up," said granddaughter Sassha Dement. "Charismatic is a good word to describe him. He was so funny, and he was always positive. He would introduce me and say, 'This is my granddaughter, Sassha. She got her good-looking genes from me.'"

Janelle and Dement said Foster also collected inspirational quotes in a book. And whenever he would walk into their bank and someone was having a bad day, said Janelle, Foster would return next time with popcorn for them.

"He had sayings like, 'the worst thing that ever happens to you is the best thing that's ever happened to you.' I had to think about what that meant for a while," Mark Foster said. "He always thought it was the best thing, because you had to figure out why you fell."

Dement said she spent most days at her grandparents' house in California the first six years of her life, and when they moved to Portales, she came to them every summer from the age of 7 to 13. After she graduated high school, she moved to Portales to be with them and to attend ENMU.

Dement said Foster was "the man in my life," serving as more of a father figure than a grandfather figure, and he taught her everything.

"They made me become an adult," she said of her grandparents. "Trav taught me what was right and forced me to go to school and church and pushed me to go to college. He was very loving but also very stern. I didn't dare disrespect him, but I also wouldn't disrespect him out of love. He taught me about God and the importance of having a strong faith and a positive attitude and showing up.

"He would always tell me, 'The least you can do is show up. Just show up.' There would be things I wouldn't want to do, and he'd say, 'Just show up, and let's see what happens.' And it was usually always a positive experience. If anybody in life was going to be there for you, he was. Everybody else could toss you aside, but he wouldn't."

Janelle said Foster loved to have his grandchildren and great grandchildren at the house.

"He had to be a dad to me, so he had to discipline me sometimes, so it was always funny to see him with my kids as a big, old softy," Dement said with a laugh.

Janelle Foster said it best in regard to her husband of 62 years:

"He did a lot in his 85 years."