Travis Randolph White

Travis Randolph White, 83, passed away peacefully at his Palo Duro Club home on October 23, 2025, after a long battle with cancer.

Arrangements are by Boxwell Brothers Funeral Directors, 2800 Paramount Blvd. A private memorial service will be planned for a later date.

Travis was born May 15, 1942 to Viva Maude Riggs White and Roy Travis White in Borger but soon moved to Amarillo.

Travis thought he was smarter than his teachers at Tascosa High School, so he quit and joined the United States Marines. He was assigned to Marine Attack Squadron (VMA-223) as a member of the check crew stationed in El Toro, CA and at the Marine Corps Air Station in Iwakuni, Japan. Travis completed his tour with the Marines and joined the Los Angeles Police Department.

Throughout his career in the Marines and with the LAPD, he was a wrestler, scuba diver, marathon runner, hiker, mountain biker, fisherman and boater, with many trips to Catalina Island. He was best known for his sense of humor.

As a police officer, Travis handled some of the most notorious cases in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Patty Hearst kidnapping and the Watts Riots. He was the arresting officer of Sirhan Sirhan, who was convicted of the 1968 assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

After an arrest in the Hillside Strangler case, Travis only had time to get married to Liz White during his “lunch” break at 6:00 p.m. on Valentine’s Day.

Following his retirement, Travis came home to Texas. He and Liz settled on the water at the Palo Duro Club. Kids knew they were welcome on Travis’ dock and spent many idyllic summer afternoons there fishing, with Travis ever ready to bait a hook.

Neighbors knew they could count on Travis in any emergency or to assist with any project. When their car wouldn’t start one morning, one little girl told her mother “Uh oh, you’d better call Travis.”

Travis is a past member of the Palo Duro Club Board of Directors.

He is preceded in death by his parents and two brothers, RT and Bobby Joe White.

Travis is survived by his wife Elizabeth “Liz” of 47 1/2 years; his sons Sterling (Deb) and Loran (Anna); granddaughters Jordan (Paul) Merchant, Mikkel (Austin) Freeman and Emma Sabine Wind; great grandchildren Truman and Monroe Merchant and Taos, Porter, and Ridge Freeman; his sister Clara Webb Megert and many beloved nieces and nephews. Travis finished his race as the strongest of fighters in his battle with cancer. Liz would like to thank his doctors: Dr. Praveen Tumula, Dr. Ma Kanakamedela, Dr. CP Paullus, Dr. Marc Moreau, Dr. Prakash Desai, Dr. Anne Doughtie and Dr. Jason Jones, who diagnosed his first cancer in 2017.

In lieu of flowers, Liz would like for the PDC kids to continue fishing at the dock, (dubbed Devon’s Dock for one of the children), which always made Travis so happy to see.