Obituary of Hope Kimball Somerby Travis

On Saturday, May 4, 2019, Hope Somerby Travis of Colts Neck, NJ, passed away at the age of 91 in the presence of her family. Hope was born in June of 1927 to Charles I. and Rilla K. Somerby in Haverhill, MA. She was the wife of the late George W. Travis, with whom she shared over fifty years of marriage. In 1947, Hope left Haverhill to begin a career in radio and communication, first as an announcer with a daytime talk show in RI and later as a member of NBC’s personnel department and CBS’s film department in New York City. She was an avid reader and master at solving New York Times crossword puzzles.

A proud Yankee, she could trace her family’s lineage back to the first English settlers of New England in the 1600s. Hope is survived by her daughters Kim Travis Fasnacht and Amey Travis Barnes, her sons-in law Walter Fasnacht and W. Brian Barnes, her grandsons Sullivan Fasnacht, Jeremy Barnes, and Foster Barnes, and by her nieces and nephews Ginny Reinhard, Frank Hadley, Chuck Somerby, Terry Marks, and Bonny Johns. A memorial service will be held at the Colts Neck Reformed Church on Saturday, May 18 at 1:00 pm. A small graveside service will be held for the family at Linwood Cemetery in Haverhill, MA on Saturday, May 25^th. Hope’s family would like to extend its gratitude to the caring staff at Jersey Shore Medical Center.  In lieu of flowers, please feel free to make a donation in Hope’s honor to:  Habitat for Humanity (www.habitat.org) or

Colts Neck Reformed Church (www.coltsneckreformed.org)  Funeral arrangements were handled by the Freeman Funeral Home in Freehold.