Marion Travis Pair, San Marcos, Texas, was born in Dublin, Texas, on March 25, 1937, son of Marion Harvey Pair and Winnie Aileen Stephens, left us February 21, 2021, after a 5-year battle with cancer, to join his parents and his brother Robert Royce in the great beyond. The family moved to Ft. Worth during WWII. Travis graduated from North Side High School in 1955 and attended SMU in Dallas on a football scholarship, later transferring and graduating from Texas Wesleyan College in Ft. Worth. He served two years in Korea with the U.S. Army and returned to resume working for Kroger.
In 1971, the opportunity to own his own supermarket, following in his Grandfather Stephens’ footsteps, saw him moving from Arlington, Texas to Southeast Texas. Winnie became the family home for the next 31 years. During that time, he operated five super-markets and eleven convenience stores known as Little Pair Stores. He made it a priority to support the community and schools with his time and donations.
Ever one to “sit back and relax”, he received a few honor in his spare time. Past President of Winnie Area Chamber of Commerce, Sabine-Neches Retail Grocers Assn., Texas Retail Grocers Assn, and Affiliated Foods, Inc. He took time to serve on boards for The Texas Rice Festival, The Houston-Galveston Area Council, Gulf Coast Bank, and the Strategic Oil Reserve Environmental Committee in New Orleans under the Direction of the US Dept. of Energy. Travis was honored in 1988 as the Texas Retail Grocer of the Year and by the Winnie Chamber of Commerce as the Citizen of the Year, and in 1996 was recognized by the International Rice Festival, for his contribution to the promotion of the rice industry.
