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Father James M. Travis, M.M., who was a missioner to Africa, died Jan. 16 in Tucson, Arizona. He was 73.
Ordained in 1967 for his home Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, he joined the Maryknoll priest associate program in 1972 and was assigned to the Philippines for five years.
In 1980, his bishop gave him permission to enter Maryknoll. That same year he was assigned to Tanzania, East Africa, where he served as pastor and parochial vicar in the Shinyanga Diocese.
During the famine of 1983 and 1984, he worked with the Tanzanian people through Catholic Relief Services to provide food for the needy.
He then served in the Serengeti District of the Diocese of Musoma where he worked in AIDS prevention and education.
He returned to the United States in 1989 and served in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and in California and Alaska.
Born in St. Paul, Minn., he professed final vows with Maryknoll in 1984.
He held a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from St. Paul Seminary and a master’s in faith and justice from Maryknoll School of Theology.
He is survived by two sisters, Joan Blees and Terry Kujawa, and two brothers, Greg and Stuart.
Memorial Masses will be offered Wednesday, March 4, at SS. Peter and Paul Church in Tucson, Ariz., and Maryknoll in Ossining. According to his wishes, his body was donated to the University of Arizona Medical School in Tucson.
