I Am Wilshire: Travis Keath

Hometown: We moved a lot, but most of my school years were in Saginaw, Texas.

Education: B.B.A. in finance and M.S. in finance, Texas A&M University

Profession: Business Valuation Consultant

Present city: Dallas

Tell us about your family.

Pattie and I married 31 years ago after getting acquainted in a CPA exam prep course. Our adult son, Matthew, went to Lake Highlands High School and was active in Wilshire’s youth program. My late father was a fighter pilot and instructor pilot in the Air Force. He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross while serving in Vietnam. Even he would have told you that my mother was the hero of the family, though. I can’t do her justice in the space allotted. I also have a great brother who is married with two sweet girls.

Tell us about your work or volunteer life.
I help clients who need to know what financial assets are worth, including stock in privately owned businesses, stock options, intangible assets such as patents and trademarks, economic damages in legal disputes, etc. The math involved is my version of Sudoku — more fun than you’d think.

Where is your favorite place to travel?

Pre-COVID, we went to Florida every summer. Hoping to resume soon.

What brought you to Wilshire and when?

We’ve been here 30 years. We visited several churches when we lived in the M streets. Wilshire felt most like home.

Where are you engaged in Wilshire?

I attend the Foundations of Faith Class and just finished serving on the Deacon Nominating Committee.

Tell us about your faith journey. 

I grew up Methodist, although we didn’t attend regularly. I was baptized at Wilshire.

What’s something interesting most people wouldn’t know about you?

I participated in intramural and club wrestling in college. I was in the Corps at A&M and in good shape, so I figured it should come naturally. Nope. A smaller guy mangled me at my first practice. I had to know how he did it and had fun learning and competing, eventually holding my own. Matthew followed suit, wrestling for Lake Highlands (and becoming much better than his dad ever was). My “March Madness” is the NCAA wrestling tournament — with brackets and all.

What adjectives describe you? 

I am curious about a variety of obscure topics, and am an introvert who can also be pretty outgoing.