Joe Travis Humphries

Funeral services are to be held at Lloyd James Funeral Home on Saturday, April 3, 2021 at 11:00 AM for Joe Travis Humphries. Mr. Humphries died on March 27, 2021. He was born to Jess Clyde Humphries and Altie Mae Wood Humphries in Mabank, Texas on June 7, 1929, the youngest of five children.

After graduating from Malakoff High School in 1946, he attended Federal Institute, a business school, in Tyler. He worked for the Cotton Belt Railroad for over three years until Uncle Sam called him to the Army. After completing basic training at Camp Chaffee Arkansas, he was sent to Fort Holabird in Baltimore, Maryland, and he was then assigned to the 112th Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas.

He attended East Texas State Teachers College in Commerce, Texas and graduated with a B.S. Degree in Mathematics in 1956. It was in a math class at East Texas that he met the love of his life, Freida Mae Johnson. They were married on August 17, 1956, and they began teaching school in Tyler at Tyler High School. He was assigned to Robert E. Lee High School when it opened in the fall of 1958, and he retired from Lee in 1989 with 33 years teaching experience. He was Chairman of the Math Department at Lee when he retired. He was the last of the original faculty at Robert E. Lee to retire.

He and Freida enjoyed fourteen years of retirement together until she passed away in 2004. They enjoyed traveling, arts and crafts, and making of quilts. Joe spent his last seven years at Azalea Trails Assisted Living in Tyler and enjoyed it immensely.

He was preceded in death by his parents, two brothers- Clyde and J.Q. and his sisters, Vesta Dowdle and Curtis Walker. He is survived by his wonderful daughter Emilie Kay, son-in-law Dennis White and two grandsons - Matthew White of Addison, Texas and Bryan White and Bryan’s wife Monica Lee of Houston, Texas. He is also survived by several nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be Friday, April 2 from 5:30-7:30 PM at Lloyd James Funeral Home in Tyler. In lieu of flowers please make contributions to the Family Assistance Center, First Baptist Church in Tyler – Joe’s church home since 1981.