Travis Bearden

Funeral services for Travis Bearden, 48, West Plains, Missouri, will be held at 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, December 23, 2025, at the Langston Street Chapel of Robertson-Drago Funeral Home. 

Travis Garrett Bearden was born on December 20, 1976, to David and Patricia Bearden in Jacksonville, Arkansas. He was a beloved son, brother, husband, father, and friend. Travis led a life devoted to his family and to our heavenly Father until December 18, 2025, when it was cut short just days before his 49th birthday in a tragic motor vehicle accident just north of West Plains, Missouri.

If you met Travis, you couldn’t help loving him–he brought joy when he entered a room. He was bold and a conversation with him was never boring, rarely shallow, and always kind. He possessed a humble and generous spirit–giving his resources and time to those in his daily life or anyone who had need. His quick wit, keen intelligence and genuine love for people could turn strangers into friends with a single conversation. Although a great spinner of stories and a creator of smiles for the most sober of dispositions, he was also a serious thinker who could just as easily read ancient texts and extensively debate the fine points of history or theology. Immensely curious, Travis was insatiable in his search to understand Scripture, to discern truth and his greatest desire was to pass eternal truths to his children, family, and as many as possible in order to live forever–all together–one day in God’s Kingdom.

Travis grew up and graduated high school in Ledyard, Connecticut. He received his bachelor’s degree from Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, and was 5 credits shy of earning his master’s in Marriage and Family Counseling when he was offered a job to work at National Oilwell Varco–a pipeline company based in Houston, Texas. Accepting the position proved to be a crossroads not just in his career but in life when a little girl wandered into his office and stole his heart, shortly followed by her mother.

Mariana Cortez and Travis married on October 10, 2015, in Stoystown, Pennsylvania, where they lived with daughter Gabriella and added three more children to their family with the births of Garrett and twins, Jacob and Evalene. Family was Travis’ priority, and they fulfilled his lifelong desire to be a father. He was their rock and they were his delight. He is predeceased by his father, David. He is survived by his wife; four children; mother, Patricia; sister, Vanessa Bearden; and numerous beloved pets, including Asher and Zebedee.

Visitation will be held from 6:00 until 8:00 p.m., Monday, at Langston Street Chapel.  Although flowers are appreciated, memorial contributions may be made to the family, and may be left at or mailed to Robertson-Drago Funeral Home, 211 W. Main St., West Plains, Missouri.