Travis Young is being remembered as a good guy — as a public official, businessman and in his work with the church.

Young, 88, of Altoona died April 3 at UPMC Altoona.

After graduating from Altoona High School in 1952, he served two years in the U.S. Army and then went to Grove City College, where he was recognized as an All-American soccer player in 1958 and was inducted into the Grove City College Soccer Hall of Fame in 2004.

He worked as a history teacher in Western New York for six years until 1968, when he started an independent insurance agency in Altoona. He retired in 1992, and worked for the state Department of Revenue until retiring in 1998. He served two terms as an Altoona city councilman in the 1970s and one term as city controller in the 1980s.

Young took his job as a city councilman very seriously, said former Blair County Commissioner Colson Jones.

“He loved the area,” Jones said. “He communicated well with the Blair County commissioners while serving as a city councilman. He was a hard worker and very dedicated.”

Fellow insurance businessman Allan Hancock, who served as mayor from 1980-84, said Young was a very congenial person and very easy to get along with.

“I thought he was quite successful when he opened his agency,” Hancock said. “We got along well, and he was a good competitor but basically a great guy.”

Young was a member of the Jaffa Shrine for more than 30 years and “did it all,” said longtime friend Barry Wright, a retired banker and former Blair County commissioner.

While Young was a member of different units and clubs with the Shrine, his main interest was the cycle corps.

“He was a great family man,” Wright said. “He did a great job when on council. He had the city at heart in anything he did … (he was) a very good guy.”

Young was a lifelong Presbyterian, and served as a past moderator of the Huntingdon Presbytery, and for more than 40 years was a Presbyterian commissioned lay pastor, preaching frequently in local pulpits.

“When the denomination formally authorized the service of lay leaders as pastors, Trav was one of the first to be certified as a lay pastor on March 22,

1983,” said Virginia Rainey, state clerk of the Huntingdon Presbytery.

“When Trav agreed to serve on a board or committee, he meant he was truly ready to work,”

she said.

Young was vice chair of the presbytery trustee committee, was trained as an evangelism consultant and advised ministers on retirement as its board of pensions representative, Rainey said.

He was also an avid motorcyclist and proud to receive recognition for riding in all 50 states, she added.

“He was full of enthusiasm for life and astounded his Presbytery friends when he announced he had acquired a motorcycle and intended to ride it all the way across the country,” she said. “He had a big smile, laughed readily, and was quick to step in and offer help.”

Steve Seltzer knew Young as a customer and fellow rider.

“He and his wife, Carol, would come and go on some of our rides in the early days. He was a super guy. He would take the shirt off of his back for you if you were cold,” Seltzer said, adding that Young “will absolutely be missed.”

Friends will be received from 1:30 until the 3 p.m. memorial service May 22 at Providence Presbyterian Church, Altoona. A reception will immediately follow.

Inurnment will be made at Blair Memorial Park.

Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 814-946-7467.