Travis William “Jethro” Claussen
September 28, 1977 — April 11, 2018
Travis William “Jethro” Claussen, 40, of Lawson Mo., died Wednesday, April 11, 2018 in the ER at St. Luke’s South, Overland Park, Kan., after severe complications following long-awaited surgery for an injured hip.
Trav was born September 28, 1977 in Kansas City, Mo., to Herm P. and Debra Lee (Fox) Claussen. He accepted Jesus and was saved at a young age. He attended kindergarten in Platte County, then the family moved to Lawson where he completed the next 12 years.
As a young boy, he loved racing his 4-wheeler at Vester Cates’ old race track east of Lawson, and later he enjoyed many Saturdays at the Holt Hill Climbs and weekends at Chadwick. He loved playing four years of football at Lawson High School.
Travis William “Jethro” Claussen
During high school, he worked for Swearingin Concrete. After graduation, Travis went off for a year at SMSU, but came home to fearlessly pursue his real passion, motocross racing, while working in the motocross industry at shops like Honda Yamaha North, Cameron Honda, and Ball Z Motors in Plattsburg, Mo., and starting his own motocross business GUSTO MOTO INC.
Sadly, injuries in a big race at Kemper Arena ended that pursuit. He continued to ride and his final national ranking number “963” decorated his bikes, helmets and apparel for the rest of his life. He turned his energy to helping young aspiring riders join the motocross sport for competition or just fun in the safest way possible, teaching them how to avoid serious injuries. He designed and built his own track at the farm, and assisted others in track design. He also used his creative mind to invent and patent a safer foot peg the “PAW CLAW” that would help the kids keep their feet ON the foot pegs instead of sliding off and causing them to lose their balance.
Travis was preceded in death by paternal grandparents Wilhelm Cristoff/Christian and Thelma (Petersen) Claussen; maternal grandparents Kenneth Lee and Jo Ann (Crawford) Fox Sr; uncle Benny Lee Fox; aunt and uncle Frank James and Martha “Skeeter” (Roberts) Claussen; honorary uncle Joseph Dee Harrison; and cousin Melissa Dawn Claussen.
Those left behind to mourn Trav’s passing include his parents, Herm and Deb, and his best friend and brother Trent Claussen, all of the farm west of Lawson; aunts and uncles Kenneth Lee and Donna Kay (Cox) Fox Jr. of the Osceola, Mo. area; Stephanie (Fox) Sawyer and Cindy (Hook) Fox, both of the KC Northland; Iowa aunts and uncles Jim and Olinda Claussen Kraus, Bill and Kathy (Wilson) Claussen, and Sherm and Thelma (Stoner) Claussen; Donovan Sawyer of Colorado; and honorary aunt Connie (Green) Harrison Langdon of Excelsior Springs, Mo.; cousins Kenneth Lee Fox III of Polo, Mo., Jason Fox and Cortni Sawyer both of the KC Northland, Troy Sawyer of Colorado, Joseph Sawyer of Kansas; Iowa cousins Chuck Kraus, Ed, Luke, Roger and Chris Claussen; Bud Claussen of St. Louis, Clint and Cody Claussen of New York, and honorary cousin Michelle (Harrison) Shumate of Kearney, Mo. Based on Facebook comments and visitors to the Claussen “warehouse,” he also leaves many, many good friends.
Trav’s advice to all would be to stay close to your family, no matter how much they might aggravate you, invest time in what you love, never stop dreaming, try to help people every chance you get, have fun, and SMILE!!!, because you only live once and nobody knows when that last day will come.
A short service will be held Saturday, May 12 at noon at Old Union Church, 17990 N. Union Rd., Lawson, MO 64062, followed immediately by a Celebration of Life at North Country Community Center at 18769 Hwy. 69, Lawson, MO. 64062. Please bring any great photos you may have of Travis to put on the wall.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to a memorial fund that will be used to support one or more of Trav’s favorite efforts, probably Veterans, pet rescue and/or Lawson Police.