Travis Repp Remembered at Vigil

They gathered in a circle on a chilly Saturday night along a fence line on Troxel Road, about 200 feet from Carriage Lane.

Candles held in their hands dimly illuminated their faces; you couldn’t make out specific features of the person next to you.

Yet that didn’t matter – everyone shared the same face that night and it was even evident in the shadows of the flame.

Their eyes were sullen, their mouths not quite a frown – blank faces frozen by sadness.

You couldn’t see their hearts, but they ached. And that was shared by everyone.

The only thing a friend or relative needed at this vigil for were his or her ears to listen to the stories of a beloved friend and family member.

Repp, 21, of 221 South Fourth Street in North Wales, died at due to injuries suffered in a car accident at that spot on October 8.

What has taken the place of tragedy are memories of Travis; the fenceline spoken of at the beginning of this story is now home to pictures, candles, flowers, heartfelt words and epitaphs of his young life. On Saturday, balloons were tied to the fence, which were released at the end of the night.

One by one, friends and family members of the 2008 North Penn graduate spoke of their best memories of Travis. When each one had said what they needed to say, he or she lifted their candle – “To Travis” – and those in attendance followed suit.

“We all need to hear it,” said one man about sharing the memories of Travis.

This writer opted not to interfere with the vigil and approach anyone at the remembrance for comment. Lansdale Patch played observer and listener along with the group.

One woman spoke of how Travis was her “adopted son.” She told tales of how he would always come by to see what was for dinner.

“ ‘I’m staying here,’ he said. I wasn’t a cook; his parents were the cooks. But I know he wanted to be here because of Kelly,” she said. “He was always, always welcome in our home.”

One young man told it like it was at the vigil.

“Travis was the shit,” he said. “When I first met him, I could see the look he had for Kelly. I said, ‘Who is this guy? He’s cool, but what’s he trying to do here?’ It was brotherly love; he was always trying to protect her.”

The young man spoke of Travis’s love for driving and hanging out.

“When I bought my house on September 30, he was there. On October 3, he was there,” he said. “He was so happy.”

He said he will always remember putting the blinds up with Travis.

“It took three hours,” he said, to bittersweet chuckles from the group.

He said that eventually Travis went out to get his tools to get the job done. He shared a similar memory of Travis helping him hang a door at his new home.

“That’s the last memory I have of him,” he said.

The young man remembered Travis had many tomato plants, and he would come over to Travis’s house and they would make salsa together.

Every Sunday, they would go to a Mexican restaurant, he said.

“He got the same damn thing – a burrito,” he said. “And he always told the lady (waitress) no queso americano - no American cheese.”

An older gentlemen followed with a quick memory of Travis and his friends going camping. He then shared a fond memory of Travis biking.

“Have you ever seen ‘The Flintstones’? And Kazoo? That was his helmet,” he said.

A group of high school friends spoke softly about their good friend Travis.

One young man remembered one day when he and Travis parked their car next to a car full of girls, all whom had boyfriends, he said.

“Of course, Travis was right there (talking to them). He was talking to them more than us,” he said.

Another friend remembered their “intellectual discussions.” A third man remembered a day when he was having problems with the oil and transmission on his car.

“He said to me, ‘No matter what you put in, it’s not going to fix it. It’s already broken.’ And I said, ‘Thanks Travis.’ I didn’t know him well, but he was very loved by everyone here,” he said.

Rich Welhaf, the 21-year-old who was a passenger in Travis's car and survived the crash, spoke of how he and Travis shared similar personalities.

“I learned a lot from him,” he said. “If I had a problem, he had the best solution. He was the most caring and giving person I’ve ever met in my entire life. He’s someone I respect on all levels.”

One girl said Travis was “like a big brother to me.”

She said he was always “shining red lights” into their windows, and it would drive her mom crazy.

She said he perfected his cooking skills from his parents and wherever restaurant he was working at, she wanted him to cook her meals.

The final person to speak was Travis’s father, Larry Repp. He was accompanied by his wife, Susan, and Travis’s brother, Zachary Repp.

“If nobody showed up for this, Travis would laugh,” he said. “He had a different set of glasses looking at the world.”

Larry said his son was quick to approach things along the lines of “You dumbass, why don’t you try it this way.”

He said his son was always full of energy. He recounted one story that began with showing Travis how to fish. Long after Larry had given up on catching fish in this one pond, Travis was persistent and didn’t stop fishing in it.

“I told him there’s no fish in there, just sunnys,” he said.

Then, sunny after sunny, one day Travis reeled in a five-pound bass.

“He showed it to me and said, ‘See, I told you,’” Larry said.

A doctor suggested Travis had ADD, Larry said, and that he should be prescribed Ritalin.

“Anybody that can take a pond and fish the way he fished it, it’s not ADD,” he said. “You just had to give him something to do.”

He said his son had “winged feet” and would constantly move around.

Larry told the group how Travis was impressed with all of them.

He was number seven out of 21 grandchildren, and he loved his family and friends very much.

“He wore his heart on his sleeve and he was sensitive about it,” he said. “He would be the first to mess wit you or play a joke on you, but if it happened to him, he was the first to get upset.”

 He said he heard a lot of names tonight, but he never had a chance to put faces to them.

“As parents, you try to channel your kids, but he wasn’t to be channeled; he was to be challenged,” Larry said.

When there was trouble with family or friends, it didn’t matter to Travis, as he tended to “circle the wagon,” Larry said.

“I don’t know how this would affect all of us here. I know that he would not want to be the cause of something else bad to happen. Grief is a scary thing,” he said. “Circle the wagons, watch each other. Be careful. You just never know.”

Larry said no one will never know what happened that night, be it a deer stepped out in front of him and he lost control or something else entirely. It doesn’t even matter what the police reports will say, he said.

“If Travis could see this, if he is in the place where we hope he is, he’s going ‘Damn’ … among other things,” Larry said.

With that, the group placed their candles by the fenceline and said their quiet goodbyes to Travis.

They then walked up to the open field next to , and with a final remembrance, released the balloons toward Heaven.

A Celebration of Life Service for Travis will be held at 2 p.m. Oct. 22 at Williamson Restaurant, 500 Blair Mill Road, Horsham.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in his memory by making a contribution to the Travis Montana Repp Conservation Fund, which will be donated to benefit local and state fishing areas.

Checks can be made payable to Travis Montana Repp Conservation Fund. Checks can be sent to Travis Montana Repp Conservation Fund, 221 South 4^th St., North Wales, PA 19454.

Donations can also be made through PayPal to TMRFUND@gmail.com or by walking into any PNC Bank and donating to Travis Montana Repp Conservation Fund.