Travis Grady Holt
I write this for Travis’ kids to get to know who their father was a little better.
I first met Travis in 2016. I’m an artist and mask maker in Seattle and he offered to model some of the first masks I made. He was such a fun guy, witty, smart, curious and just could talk with you for hours. That’s what happened. He told me he’d dove into a lake and broke his neck in Missouri, and somehow he ended up in Seattle.
After a while we started hanging out and he was trying to buy this house on Capitol Hill, had it under contract, and he was going to turn it into a space for many artists to live and work together. He had these ideas and drawings of using shipping containers to build low income housing. He was also a talented coder, Search Optimization Engine expert who’d developed his own detailed SEO process, and web designer. He had all these ideas.
He had lots of ideas and tried to make progress on them, but nothing really happened with those ideas. We’d sketch them out, but then he’d be off to the next thing.
He started painting and drawing and did some great work, usually an extension of his graffiti work. We’d have long evenings doing art together, talking, listening to music, dreaming stuff up. He talked a lot about his family coming from Sicily, and his father owning a kiln business. I remembered the Roman god Vulcan, the blacksmith of the gods, and he made a connection there. He’d named his consulting business Vulcan.
He just came and went though. Whenever we tried to schedule something, it didn’t work. He started a couple different jobs but couldn’t seem to stick with a plan. He moved constantly.
When you got him, you got him. And he could leave at any time.
It was so much fun to be out and about with him. He would talk to everybody, all the time. Hi, how are you? He’d get people’s names, listen to them, cheer them up, and really care. His heart was golden, and open, and he shared it with everyone who came in contact with him.
When you were with him, you were right in it with him. It was joy.
I think he had a pretty serious traumatic brain injury, and he would not go to get any type of medical help. He was physically quite capable, adroit, mentally aware, but there was this huge impulsive need for him to just keep moving. He didn’t seem to stop.
He had a number of relationships. I was hoping he would find a good girlfriend, and settle down, and there were some who tried with him, but they all seemed to not work out.
He showed me videos of Travis Jr’s hiphop videos, and talked about you his kids and how he hoped he could be a better father. He really wanted to bring you and show you his new life. When he cried, the few times he did with me, it was about that. He felt he was a bad father and so much wanted to somehow make it up to you.
I think, though, given the brain injury, he wasn’t able to follow a schedule or otherwise pull it together. He really wanted to, but was unable to stop the constant movement, and set some roots down.
In 2019 I lost contact with him.
Today I found this obituary, and searched for more information. On FB I see that he was killed by a gunshot on January 27, 2023. I also found the police report that next morning and it said that someone reported the shooting, and they found Travis in a residence under the highway. He’d been shot in the side, and was unresponsive when they found him.
I know at that moment that he died his last cry was that he loves you, his children, and begs your forgiveness that he was not a better father to you.
I think he’s now around you trying to make amends.
I salute my friend Travis G Holt and you his survivors.
May you rise in the heavens as the angel you are Travis.
Much love,
Jim Corey
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