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We are meeting here today via the internet from the home of Lori Doyle, Travis’s mom in Albert Lea, MN and the Elks Lodge #557 in Central City, CO. To honor and celebrate the life of Travis Brackey. Though none of

us know how long a soul will have on this earth, when one leaves so

early in their life we always wish we had been given just a little more

time to share with them. Please find comfort in knowing that he is now

pain free and his earthly struggles have ended. 46 years ago today in Bismarck ND at St. Anthony Hospital, Travis was

born to parents Bill and Lori Brackey joining big sister Billie Jo to

complete the small family. He passed away March 10

th

,of this year 2024, at St. Anthony Hospital, Wheat Ridge, CO. During his early childhood he

lived a short time in St. Anthony ND and attended 2

nd grade at North

Dakota’s last remaining one room schoolhouse aptly named St. Anthony’s School. Makes you wonder if this patron saint of lost things

wasn’t Travis’s personal guardian all along. Travis did have many enjoyments in his life and some were lifelong and

started early, mainly music. Even before he attended his first day at

school, Travis had found music that reach his soul. And on many, many, far too many very early mornings he would wake up before anyone else, and using a kitchen chair to look in high spots, he would find where his

mom had hidden his precious. Then with treasure in hand he would pull

the chair over to the shelf where the record player sat and put the vinyl

album on the turntable. For ever long he could get away with it, he

played at full volume the only song from the Styxx album that mattered

to him, Mr. Roboto. As soon as the song finished he would lift the

needle and start again, doing this dozens of times. Only stopping when

mom woke up and came out to turn the stereo off and hide the record

for another morning. Travis totally embraced other aspects of his music as well, including the

equipment needed for best quality sound played at full volume. This

meant packing as many amps and speakers into the back of vehicle hewas driving. When one of his first pickups became airborn and rolled

after snapping off the wooden 4x4 post holding the dangerous curve

sign. He walked away unharmed and singing the praises for his new

Aspen CD player he had just installed and kept on playing even upside

down. One of the best ways he enjoyed his music was with friends at a

concert, and his favorite spot to be at when at a concert was The Mosh

Pit. Sometimes he had too much fun in the pit and was removed, only to

finish listening to the concert from outside as he waited for the friends

he came with to come out when the concert ended. At the age of 9 Travis moved to Colorado with his mom and sister. Beginning at creekside in Eldorado Springs, then higher into the

mountains to Nederland, finally to live his remaining childhood at 9200ft. 3 quarters of the way up Mt. Thorodin where he learned mountain

driving on Wedgewood Rd. Travis was never a city child he was always a

rural child and loved mountain living the most. After moving from the

family home he always kept his home somewhere in Gilpin County. Many here or watching today were classmates of Travis at Nederland

High, and surely many of you have a school remembrance of Travis and

how he was. I

During his Jr. and Sr. Years at Nederland he was basically referred as a

quiet type. But those that knew him, knew he was always sharpening

his cynical sense of humor, ready to hide it in a critique of some

unsuspecting classmate or teacher. He was also good for a daring

exploit or two also. Whether it was helping make a dryice bomb that was

found and taken to the Priciples office and put upon her desk only to

explode later in the evening, with no one around and the only injuries

were to a few ceiling tiles. Or driving an older light blue Jeep Wagoneer

which was a loaner from his parents that he named the Whoop Dee, since when he thought of having to drive it he thought whoop dee do. When stating it was ugly but it made a great mountain vehicle he

decided his words alone weren’t enough and he would provide a visual. Since it had previously snowed heavily the deep ditch in front of the

school was full of snow level to the top. He announced he would go

down one side and Whoop Dee would make it through and up to the top

of the other side. Then he turn his music on as loud as he could and

floored the jeep. All that was seen was tons of flying swirling snow then

poof Travis and Whoop Dee appeared on the other side, minus Whoop

Dees large front grill. The crowd cheered wildly, and Travis proudly

retrieved the busted up grill.Chances are if you didn’t know Trav from school, you were once

probably a co-worker. Travis only had one job outside of casinos, that

was at B&F Foods in Nederland. He worked after school and weekend

nights. Where he learned grocery stocking and how to build a dry ice

bomb. His first job in the casinos was when he was hired to work in the

kitchen at The Gilpin Casino. Where one of his duties was to get rum

from the bar for the rum-cake. One day an observant manager watched

as Travis retrieved more rum than what deemed necessary and found

only about half the amount had made it to the kitchen. Next job was at

The Teller House Casino in Central City. Beginning as a line cook, which

his mother found amazing knowing that at home he couldn’t even cook

a hot dog. Soon he advanced onto the gaming floor and started paying

customers their winnings and learning the slots. He stayed working in

the slot department the rest of his career. Going from lead slot tech to

being one the managers. Travis was a great co-worker. He knew his job

well and always brought his sarcastic sense of humor with him. If you

were lucky you were able to see first hand when he used it on an

unsuspecting,and usually clueless recipient. He had the best deadpan

answers to what he considered to be stupid questions. Though most

friends were able to see and enjoy Trav’s humorous side, some saw his

compassionate, caring side too. He offered a broad shoulder to cry into

and a patient ear to listen with. When not at work Travis was all about playing and loved sharing his fun

with friends. He very much looked forward to time he was able to spend

with a good friend with a shared interest. Maybe it was taking the guns

out for target practise or testing a new one. Or the starting a new

football season and cheering for one of his favorite teams, either the

Denver Broncos or the MN Vikings, only to have both teams

continuously disappoint him at seasons end. In the winters he liked to

go snowboarding. His early days of snowboarding were when

snowboarding was brand new and not allowed on the groomed slopes. Snowboarders had to sneak their boards in and rough it in the back

country. But riding the dirt bike was his soul sport, especially the trips

that included camping out and partying. Every year going with the same

group of friends to Moab, Utah and riding the sand dunes.. This

particular group of close friends have known each other for over half

their lifetime and have traveled the route to Moab for over 20 years. This year will be Travis’s final trip with the gang. They will be taking his

ashes and spreading them among the sand dunes and trails he loved toride. Travis shared his fun with not only his human friends but with his

dogs as well, his dogs went everywhere with him. His first dogs were

siblings, Rottweiler/Shepard mix, he named Dakota and Cheyenne. He

was in his early 20’s when he adopted them and together the three of

them grew into maturity. After being together for 16 years it became

time for the pups to go to the Rainbow Bridge and wait for him. They

were followed by Kenya aka Boo who at an early age was found to have

diabetes. For all of the 13 years they were together he administered her

daily insulin shots and prepared her special diet. In return she was with

him during some of his darkest moments. She preceded him in death by

a few months, quietly passing away in his arms. We can only pray that

the Rainbow Bridge does exist and he is back with the dogs he loved so

much. Travis’s biggest, deepest, truest love of his life was without a doubt his

daughter Riley. March 17

th

, 2015 Travis’s world changed completely. As

she was placed in his hands for the first time she had his heart 100%, he

loved her unconditionally. Having her in his life eased his pain and only

she could pull back the dark clouds allowing some sunshine back into his

life. Hopefully she will be able to remember him and what a loving dad

he had been to her. Maybe she’ll keep memories of shopping for “Wows” with him in a stores toy department, or going to a theater and

watching the movie on the big screen with lots of popcorn and having

chick chick with dip dip for lunch ( translation: Chick-fil-A ), or best of all

how she could get him to repeatedly play the song Let it go from the

soundtrack of Frozen as they drove up and down the canyon. Even

though he knew she was in safe and loving care, leaving her to grow up

without him was nothing he ever wanted. Travis’s passing has left a huge deep hole in so many of us, but in time

that hole will become smaller and more tolerable. We will get through

this in his memory we must. In that memory we still have his essence

that we can talk to and hear his reply. Hopefully when the time comes

he’ll also be waiting for us.