Student enjoyed outdoors

By Vanessa Renderman
Special Projects Editor

Chris and Mike Simpson did everything right. Like other parents, they raised their kids to know that drugs are dangerous. But their son Travis, the 19-year-old Purdue student who died from cocaine intoxication Feb. 3, still made a decision that cost him his life. Now his family and friends are left wondering what went wrong.

"It's hard to deal with, to understand: what was he thinking?" his dad, Mike, said. "He knew better."

Chopped logs are still stacked on pallets in the woods behind the Simpson house. Travis would sometimes come home on the weekends and spend a couple hours splitting logs for the family. Chopped logs lay strewn on the ground, just one reminder that Travis will never be back to finish the job.

Everything is a reminder, from the fort in the woods that Travis and his friend built entirely by themselves to the patch of land the Simpson family uses to grow and sell Christmas trees. Travis' job was to uproot the stumps so new trees could be planted.

Being outdoors was what Travis loved, says his family. He loved hunting. It's a family tradition. When he was little, he would go hunting with his grandpa and his dad. As he and his younger brother, Troy, grew older they were allowed to hunt as well.

He would build anything — a house or a bird feeder for his grandma.

"He could make something out of nothing," said Peggy Simpson, Travis' grandma.

When Travis' family and friends share memories of him, they always return to the same question — why?

They'll never know.

Greg Moyers, a family friend, said it was just a mistake Travis made. "You can't always afford to make a mistake," he said.

His family saw Travis as a good kid. He was great at math and took accelerated courses when he was younger. Pat Reese, one of Travis' grade school math teachers, said he was the best student she ever had. He was always polite and took the time to talk to her before class when the rest of the kids just sat down in their seats.

When he was in high school, he took a vocational education class because he loved to build. Travis had loved construction since he was a small boy, following his dad around and helping out.

His dad said Travis knew more about construction than any of the other students in his class, and maybe more than the instructor. Travis grew up around construction, and childhood pictures show him carrying a box of nails, something his mom, Chris, said he had with him all the time.

Travis, a 19-year-old who got along with people of all ages, isn't the mental image someone has of a person who used drugs, his dad said.

When he had a large break between classes in high school, Travis would go over to his grandma's house to help out or play cards. His grandma, Peggy, said that after her husband died, Travis fixed things and did odd jobs that his grandfather would have done.

Travis' six-year-old cousin, who went snowmobiling with him this past Christmas, says Travis is her guardian angel.

His mom says one of the hardest parts of Travis' death is knowing that it could have been prevented.

"This is a pain that's avoidable," she said. Having to bury a child is different than having to bury a friend, she said. "It leaves a hole in your soul."

And the circumstances under which Travis died makes it that much more inexplicable.

Tom Reese, a family friend, said it's hard to figure out why Travis would do cocaine. "Drugs don't pick and choose," he said. "(Travis was) not one you would have thought this could happen to."

The Travis that his family and friends knew was not the one people heard about in the news — the one who died from cocaine intoxication.

He was the Travis who spent hours hunting deer and coyotes. He was the Travis who had a gift for playing guitar. He was the Travis who loved cookies and gave a flirty smile to everyone he met.

Travis' grandma remembered when one of his classmates died in a car accident. Travis and some of his friends built a cross and set up a memorial in the boy's parking space at school.

When his grandma stopped by to see the memorial, she saw Travis sitting alone in his car nearby. She asked if he was all right, and he said he was just thinking about his friend.

Now it is Travis' friends and family who are remembering.

Bob Yoke, a sophomore in the Schools of Engineering, knew Travis since their freshman year and said he was the type of person who would help if his friends needed anything.

"He was always there to take care of his friends," he said.

Yoke said it was sad that Travis had to die the way he did. "I hope people can learn from it," he said. "Don't just look at it as some idiot on drugs. He's just so much more than that."

• A scholarship fund will be set up in Travis' memory. Donations can be sent to Northwestern High School 3431 N. 400 West, Kokomo IN 46901. Please direct the donation to the principal and label it as a donation to Travis Simpson's scholarship fund.

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