Local marine killed in Afghanistan
9/13/07
PALO CEDRO — When U.S. Marine Cpl. Travis Woods called his mother last week, he told her that he would be home soon after spending months fighting with the Special Forces in Afghanistan.
But on Saturday evening, three Marines visited her at her Palo Cedro home.
They were there to tell her that her son was dead.
Details about how the 21-year-old Foothill High School graduate died are still unclear. The Department of Defense has yet to post a death notice on its Web site and a spokesman declined to comment.
Stacey Woods said a Marine official visited her home Monday afternoon to talk about what happened and to discuss funeral details.
But she declined to elaborate on the details of her son’s death other than to say he was the only one who died in an apparent attack. She called him a hero who will receive a Purple Heart.
She said she knows her son is gone — the circumstances surrounding the death are secondary to that fact.
“He was an incredible young man who had a lot of family and friends who loved him,” she said.
The Marine’s death leaves those who also knew Travis Woods grieving. Many described him as an upstanding, genuine person who sought excitement all his life.
His friend, Aislinn Anderson, 21, who graduated with him from Foothill in 2004, said Travis Woods was a daredevil who enjoyed extreme sports.
“He was awesome. He was funny and fun and always kind of a risk taker,” Anderson said. “But after high school he turned into this real man.”
Stacey Woods said her son had a passion for BMX bikes, surfing and snowboarding. She said he was a perfectionist, who would practice each sport until he was an expert.
“Everything he did was big,” she said.
Woods’ MySpace page is festooned with pictures of him flying through the air, often upside down, on his bike or board.
But his former principal at Foothill High School, Kyle Turner, said there was more to Woods than just a zest for the extreme.
He described the former football player “as an outstanding young man who represented Foothill with character and integrity.”
Turner said he sent an e-mail to school staff members notifying them of the death.
“He’s definitely worth it,” Turner said of any community outpouring of grief and support following Woods’ death. “He was a good kid.”
Travis Woods enlisted in the Marines early, while still in high school. He had already completed one tour in Iraq, his mother said.
Services are pending, as the Marine’s body is in transit from Afghanistan.
Aside from his mother, Woods is survived by his father, Paul, his 18-year-old sister, Tessa, and a 14-year-old brother, Jake.