Patricia Travis

Patricia L. (Howland) Travis, 88, a longtime Hopkinton and Framingham resident, died March 31 after a period of declining health. Born in Framingham, she was the daughter of the late Thomas F. & Adele M. (Homer) Howland and the beloved wife of the late Robert K. Travis.

Pat was a 1954 graduate of Framingham High School and married the loved of her life, Bob, just a year later. Once children came along, Pat stayed home to run the household. As their children got older, she worked at the former Zayre and Mammoth Mart. She and Bob retired and moved to Florida, where they enjoyed the sunshine and warmer weather for 15 years before returning to Massachusetts to help care for her father, Tom. Upon returning from Florida, Pat and Bob were active members of the First Baptist Church of Framingham and lived at Hastings House in Framingham, where they met many wonderful and caring people.

Pat was a talented seamstress and loved to knit. She seemed to always have a pair of knitting needles in her hands. Her children, and grandchildren, great-grandchildren and many newborns were the beneficiary of her talents in the forms of hats, blankets, sweaters and slippers. For several years, she made hats for the Hopkinton High School football teams for which her sons David and Peter played. The item later became affectionately known as “Pat Hat.”

Pat is survived by her children, Donny and wife Kim of Caroga Lake, New York, David and wife Maureen of Sanford, North Carolina, Diane Smith and husband Karl of St. Albans, Maine, and Peter and wife Silvia of Northborough, 10 grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, her siblings Ronald Howland, Alice Bartlett and Cathy Marquell, and many nieces and nephews.

Besides her husband, Bob, Pat was predeceased by her siblings Barbara Antonio and Thomas “Bud” and Robert Howland.

Family and friends will honor and remember Pat’s life by gathering for a time of visitation in the McCarthy, McKinney & Lawler Funeral Home, 11 Lincoln Street, Framingham, on Saturday, April 6, from 9:30-11:30 a.m. Her funeral service will immediately follow. Interment will be private.

In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made in Pat’s name to: Perkins School for the Blind (perkins.org) or to the Callahan Center/Senior Services, 535 Union Avenue, Framingham, MA 01702.

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