Wayne Travis Obituary

You are still missed very much today as you were the day you passed away. I know you never got to meet Elizabeth, but I am sure you met her before she made her way into this world. Sometimes her spunky self reminds me of you! I have known since she was a baby she knew of you the way that she talked and talked to your picture. Later telling me it was papa. Hope you are having all the cokes! you want ! I know you sure missed them! Love and miss you Keith/Cheryl/Shaun/Laura/Keith Jr/and Elizbeth.

Sonny and Keith kept my Rialto orange grove going for years until it gained some fame as the last grove in Rialto. I still have 2 acres of orange trees supplemented with a wide variety of many other types of fruit trees. It is called Adams Acres and it would not still exist if it had been for all the hard work put in by Sonny and Keith Travis.

Sonny took care of the Adams family grove in Rialto for decades. He was like a part of our family. We could always count on him to be here when we needed something done. He had amazing skill driving a tractor, coming within inches of each standpipe to remove every possible weed but never hitting one with the disc. He entertained us with his tremendous supply of interesting stories. He was the last of the old time grove men from the glory days of orange growing in the Inland Empire and he knew everything there was to know about growing oranges. .

To the family of Wayne Travis:

I am so sorry to hear of the loss of your loved one. I am a cousin of Wayne's. My father was a brother to Ernest. I never met Ernest but Frank & Martha brought Aunt Clara and Ruby to Fallon for a visit in the summer of 1990. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to meet the family at the Frank & Martha Travis reunion. May God comfort you in your time of sorrow.

Penny, Donny, Caitlin, Keith, & Family,

I wish to express my condolences to the whole family. I spent a lot of time at your house as a child and got to know what a great man he was. His work and family was his life...Take one day at a time and remember him as he would want you to...God Bless You

Dear Keith, Cheryl and family,



I am so sorry to hear about the death of your father/father-in-law and "Pa-Pa".



I did not know him personally but Cheryl has shared many experiences with me down through the years, and it gave me a pretty good idea that he was a very hard worker and the kinds of things he liked and were important to him in everyday life.



I know you will all will miss him greatly. Please accept my deepest sympathies and condolences.



May God Bless and be with you during this loss.



Cousin,

I am very sorry to hear Of Wayne "Sonny" Travis's passing. I didn't know him but I am related to him as my father Leonard Travis is Ernest Travis's brother. I never got to meet Ernest either. My great loss. I would have loved to have known them both. Sonny sounds like he was a wonderful man.. A hard worker like my father was. My sympathy to the family. Keep his memory alive by sharing stories often. It will comfort you as it has me. I Lost my Dad in 1973 and he is still very much a part of my life. My grandchilden, who never met my Dad know him well through those stories. I'm sure Sonny will be greatly missed. My best to all the family.

Dear Cheryl and Family,

Please accept our condolences on your loss. It is always very sad to lose a loved one.

Love, Mary and Mike Arteaga

Sonny took care of our Rialto grove for decades. He was more than our groveman. He was a great friend. Nobody could compare to Sonny when it came to coaxing the irrigation water down furrows filled with weeds and fallen leaves and undermined by gopher diggings. We could always count on Sonny to do a terrific job and to deal calmly with the worst orchard emergencies such as broken irrigation lines. We also loved to hear his stories about the good old days. We will miss him greatly.

Jean Adams

Sonny took care of our Rialto grove for decades. He was more than our groveman. He was a great friend. Nobody could compare to Sonny when it came to coaxing the irrigation water down furrows filled with weeds and fallen leaves and undermined by gopher diggings. We could always count on Sonny to do a terrific job and to deal calmly with the worst orchard emergencies such as broken irrigation lines. We also loved to hear his stories about the good old days. We will miss him greatly.

Jean Adams

Doug, Becky, Sarah, Stephanie, & Hunter~The Brown Family~We'll Miss Ya "Unc"~

Condolences to the Family.The loss of a family member is always hard but our prayers go out to all of you. I didn't know Sonny but did know Cheryl & Keith and their family, through Cheryl. May God bless you all.

WE will miss sonny dearly my family and my self express our condolences dearly.Our prayers go out to all of you. God Bless you And keep in touch

Sincerly

The Martinez FAMILY

Keith. Cheryl & Children,

We are so sorry for your loss, live with the good memories. Sonny is at rest now.

Don and Barbara Parham

Sonny Travis has done grove work for us since I was a boy. His dad, Ernest Travis, worked for us at an even earlier time. The Travis's lived in Bloomington since the early days of that town. Sonny was born in 1928 and still had tremendous strength and stamina well up into his 70's. Sonny was extremely tough and survived a series of catastrophic accidents. One time I saw him working in our grove with his head all wrapped in bandages. He had been shopping at a 7-11 Store in Upland when an armed robber came in. The man fired at Sonny just as he lunged away from the bullet. The bullet deflected off Sonny's Skull. He was having splitting headaches but came to work anyway. Another time I saw him working in the grove with an enormous white bandage around his thumb. He and his son, Keith, were hooking up their disk to their tractor when the disk shifted and severed Sonny's thumb. It was only hanging on by a little skin. Sonny told Keith, "Let's go have lunch and then we can stick it back on with some tape." Sonny's son said, "We're going to the doctor immediately." The Doctor managed to reattach it. Another time Sonny was driving a truck with an open cab through a grove when an enormous Eucalyptus branch fell on him. He was trapped under the branch for a long time until other men finally discovered him and freed him.

Sonny worked in Inland Empire groves all of his life, driving a tractor, irrigating, fumigating with cyanide gas, catching gophers, and countless other things. He spent endless hours working in the Rialto groves that have been replaced by subdivisions. He had a million great stories to tell. I spent countless hours listening to his stories in our orchard. Sonny took care of 35 orange groves scattered over a wide area. Some were isolated groves like ours. He worked for little money because he knew the growers were not making any money. We will all greatly miss him.

He spent his life as he wished and there was nothing he liked better than being in orange groves. His wife even complained that when they took vacations he would drive to some distant location with orange groves and get out and walk around in them. He was probably the last of the old-time grove men still alive.

John Adams and Jean Adams

It came as a shock when I got the call that you had passed on. Tomorrow we lay you to rest. You would be so proud of Junior he has been so brave over loosing his "PA PA". He was and is your little buddy forever. Rest in Peace and I will never forget the stories you told me about growing up in San Bernardino and working in the groves. Rest Peacefully knowing that your son and his son's are taking care of the groves that you loved so much. And we remember you are loved by all and will be sorely missed.