Fr Louis Michael Travers

Family history

Louis Michael Travers was born on May 3, 1915, at Jamestown, SA. His parents were Edward and Susan (nee Redden) Travers. There were eight children in the family. However, Raymond and Nicholas died at the ages of 12 and 14 of peritonitis and glandular fever, respectively.

Catherine (Glynn) and Patrick also predeceased the Dean, who died on the December 18, 2002. Marie died on December 18, 2004. Only Joan (Sr Andrina OP) and Yvonne (Speck) survived their priest brother.

Student years

Louis received his education at Sacred Heart College, Somerton. His priestly studies began at Springwood and Manly Seminaries in NSW. He was then sent to Rome to study Theology by Archbishop Killian. When the World War II broke out in 1939, he was compelled to return to Australia and finished his Theology course back at Manly Seminary. He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Beovich on July 26, 1942, in St Francis Xavier's Cathedral.

At the time of ordination

After the ceremony he went straight down to Goodwood to anoint his ailing great uncle, William Travers. William always said he would never die until he had been anointed by Louis. He died two weeks later on the August 10. Sr Ansbert, his great-aunt, Mary-Anne Travers, a Sister of St Joseph had to sit in a car outside the Cathedral through the ordination because she was so ill. She was the sister of the Dean's grandfather and had entered the Josephite Congregation in 1899.

A chain of appointments

His first appointment was as Assistant Priest at Mt Gambier. In January 1946, Archbishop Beovich appointed him a Professor and Bursar at St Francis Xavier Seminary, Stradbroke Park, then only in his fifth year of priesthood. With the coming of the Vincentian Fathers to staff the Seminary in 1952, Fr Louis was made Assistant Priest at Goodwood.

In 1956 he became Parish Priest of Hectorville until he left there in 1967 to become Dean of Mount Gambier Parish. At Hectorville he had to cope with the needs of a fast growing Parish and Primary School. During 1967 he was elected to the first Senate of Priests for Adelaide.

While at Mount Gambier the Dean was noted for resolving a secondary education crisis which had developed in the parish. Neither the Marist Brothers nor the Sisters of Mercy individually had the resources to meet the demands being made for education to the Matriculation level. As a result of a feasibility study instigated by Dean Travers a Catholic College Board, later called the Tenison College Board, was formed bringing about the amalgamation of the Marist Brothers and Sisters of Mercy to supervise jointly a new school to provide the co-education of boys and girls. The new school was named Tenison College in honour of the distinguished pioneer priest and scholar, Fr Julian Tenison Woods. Sadly both the sisters and brothers subsequently left Mount Gambier but the College continued to thrive under lay leadership.

In 1974 he was transferred to the Parish of Salisbury, also a rapidly expanding Parish. From 1981 to 1995 his final appointment was as Parish Priest of Richmond. At Richmond he had a stained glass window installed, depicting Our Lady of Knock.

Love for Ireland

He loved Ireland and spent quite a bit of time there with his relatives Anne Downey (nee Phelan) and Ned Phelan and their families. He loved being on their farms just outside the town of Kilkenny and spent a lot of time on the tractors helping with the harvest. As well, he spent time at the original family farm, also just out of Kilkenny, where Margaret Quigley, Ned and Anne's sister, lived with her family. Grandmother Doran lived on a farm down the road from the Travers farm. They had come out from Ireland at different times and met again by accident on the steps of St Francis Xavier's Cathedral in Wakefield Street. After that, the rest, as they say was history!

Sr Kathryn’s memories

Sr Kathryn Travers RSM holds these memories of her relative, Dean Louis:

• “The Dean was very family conscious and while he was at Richmond we had an annual Mass for all deceased members of the Travers clan. It was always a nice family gathering. However, the numbers were beginning to decrease because of sickness and death by the time the Dean retired.

• “The Dean was a great golfer and played from a scratch handicap. He held the Clergy championship trophy for well over 20 years and it was every Adelaide priest’s ambition to beat him.

• “He was very attentive to the sick. I remember a few occasions when we needed help at Millicent and he came to our assistance. Fr Dave Abfalter was away on his annual holidays and he followed up quite a few patients in the Mount Gambier hospital for us. We always seemed to have more sickness and deaths down there when Fr Abfalter went on his holidays. It got to be a bit of a joke!

• “He was always praying for vocations, particularly among the younger Travers members. I always had to include a prayer for vocations at every Travers family Mass.

• “He always said Mass very reverently. When I prepared his Golden, Diamond and Retirement Masses, I had to include the hymn Tu es Sacerdos. This was very important to him. He loved his priesthood and treated it with great reverence. His favourite hymn was Faith of our Fathers and I also had to include that in every Mass for himself or at our annual family Mass.

• “He was a great builder as everyone knows. The Church of the Annunciation at Hectorville is a great testament to this. He gained a lot of publicity for blessing Thomas More College from a helicopter in 1978. Thomas More College opened in 1979. At the time I was teaching at St Thomas More's Primary School, Elizabeth North, and we constantly got their mail and telephone calls, as the school was not in the phone book for the first half of the year.

Dean Lois Travers was awarded an MBE in recognition of his services to Education, having in mind that Tenison Woods College at Mt Gambier, Thomas Moore College, St Augustine’s at Salisbury and Holy Family at Parafield Gardens owe their existence or development to his vision, zeal and tenacity.

For many years he was the SA Representative on the Manly Union – an organisation of ex alumni of St Patrick’s College, Manly, which was devoted to the care of priests and the encouragement of vocations to the priesthood – which was always very dear to him.

Growing up on a farm Lou Travers had an immense knowledge of and interest in all aspects of agriculture and livestock. He also loved dogs and had three Papilions, who were thoroughly spoilt! I believe one always slept on the end of his bed. Half an hour before the Dean died the dog got off the bed and didn't come back!”

Retirement and death

On the April 24, 1995 Dean Louis resigned as Parish Priest of Richmond and retired with the title Pastor Emeritus to live at Glenalta where he was well cared for by his devoted housekeeper, Nancy Mills. They later moved to another home at Bellevue Heights.

The Dean died peacefully at home on the December 18, 2002. Two days before Christmas his funeral was conducted at St Francis Xavier's Cathedral. He was laid to rest in the Navan Cemetery alongside his parents.