Dr. Idris R. Traylor, Jr. (Gamma Chi–Texas Tech ’70), 32nd Knight Commander, passed away on Saturday, February 7, after a brief illness and days following his 91st birthday.
Former Knight Commander Traylor was born in Norman, Oklahoma, on February 4, 1935, to Idris Rhea Traylor and Betsy Elizabeth Bradney Traylor. He grew up and attended local schools in Greenville, Texas. Traylor matriculated in 1953, at the University of Texas at Austin and received his bachelor’s degree in the Honors Program in 1957, and his master’s degree in Russian and European history in 1959. He received his Ph.D. from Duke University in 1965, following acceptance of his dissertation, “The Double Eagle and the Fox: The Dual Monarchy and Bulgaria, 1911–1913.”
He then spent a year and a half traveling throughout Europe and Russia and attending classes at the Sorbonne University of Paris. His education continued at Duke University, during which time he also studied history and international law and did research as a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Vienna, Austria, and in London.
In 1965, he accepted a professorial appointment at Texas Tech University, developing the undergraduate and graduate programs in Russian and East European history. As a professor, Traylor was very much involved in research and university committees, sponsoring several student organizations, such as the Student Senate. He served as chairman of several important university committees, including three presidential inaugurations.
In 1967, he was invited to become part of the university’s administration, first as Deputy Director, and then Director, of the International Center for Arid and Semi-Arid Land Studies (ICASALS). Traylor remained in administration for thirty-five years, although teaching a course each semester and continuing research and publication. In 1988, the university combined many of its units handling international activities into a new Office of International Affairs and Traylor was named its first.
Executive Director, an office elevated to Vice President, and served simultaneously as Director of the International Cultural Center. He remained in these positions until he retired in 2003, earning the emeritus honorific.
Traylor was also very involved in his community, serving on various boards and city committees and museums and hospitals and philanthropic agencies, and on a variety of Texas State committees and international organizations. He was associated with programs of the U.S. State Department, served on a U.S. Trade Mission to Turkey, special projects in Yugoslavia, Egypt, Japan, Mexico, and with the United Nations Agency for Development Program in China, as well as other projects in various countries. He was a consultant to assist in establishing special international activities for Turkish universities, which resulted in his receiving an honorary doctoral degree from a major Turkish institution. Over several decades Traylor traveled for business or pleasure in almost eighty countries.
Dr. Traylor was initiated in 1970 by Gamma Chi Chapter at Texas Tech. He had previously served as Faculty Advisor and then became the Alumnus Advisor. He has remained one of the active advisors for that chapter for nearly sixty years, up until his passing. It was at Gamma Chi that he became the principal author of the Council of Honor program, later to be used nationally. That effort was recognized with his receiving of the Knight Commander’s Accolade.
Beginning in 1972, he broadened his scope with KA by serving as Deputy Province Commander for the former Hamer Province. He was appointed National Scholarship Officer in 1973 and served in that role until 1995. He wrote the Order’s scholarship manual, Brains, Books and Brotherhood. In 1974, he was appointed and later elected Province Commander of the newly created Locke Province. He served as editor of the Order’s 1979 Alumni Directory and contributed multiple articles to The Kappa Alpha Journal.
In 1975, he was elected to the Executive Council at the 56th Convention in Biloxi, Mississippi. There he served for fourteen years, including four years as Senior Councilor. In 1985, at the 61st Convention in Dallas Texas, he was elected as the 32nd Knight Commander and served two terms through 1989.
While Dr. Traylor served as Knight Commander, he spearheaded several important accomplishments. He led the move of the National Administrative Office to Lexington, Virginia—initiating and accomplishing a long-held goal of the Order. He revived the office of Chief Alumnus to promote and support of alumni chapters. He revived several suspended chapters and established and chartered five new ones. He led the Executive Council to establish the Award for Distinguished Public Service in 1986, now serving to recognize members who have demonstrated public service by serving in local, state or federal government. In 1997, he was awarded the Order’s Accolade for Interfraternal Service, and he was a member of thirteen Courts of Honor. Continuing his service, in 1999 he was commissioned to design the jewel for the Knight Commander’s Accolade.
He served the Kappa Alpha Order Educational Foundation as a Trustee in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was named an inaugural Life Trustee (now Trustee Emeritus), in 1997. An advocate for planned giving, as a Trustee Emeritus, Idris served as the Chairman of the 1865 Trust, the KAOEF planned giving society.
Dr. Traylor served on the board of the National (later North American) Interfraternity Conference (NIC), and in December of 1998, he was elected as the Conference’s 91st President, to date, only the third KA to serve in that role. In recognition of Dr. Traylor’s lifetime involvement in positive interfraternal activities, he was recognized in 2004 by the conferral of the NIC Gold Medal.
A memorial service for Former Knight Commander Traylor will be held on Friday, February 13, at 2:00 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 1411 Broadway, Lubbock, Texas 79401. A reception will follow at the KA Lodge at 1401 Orlando.
Pursuant to the Regulations, Knight Commander James M. Schmuck has declared an official period of mourning beginning today and ending on March 9. During this period, members shall wear a hatchment, a small piece of black ribbon (1/2″ wide and 3/4″ long) behind their badges. Also, during this period, the flag of the Order shall be flown at half-staff—and will remain so until March 9, at the National Administrative Office in Lexington, Virginia.
Condolences may be sent to Former Knight Commander Traylor’s nephew, Christopher R. “Chris” Traylor (Gamma Chi – Texas Tech ‘82), 1310 Barton Creek Blvd., Austin, Texas 78735.
Dr. Traylor was a consummate gentleman, scholar, and brother. His passing, while bringing us great sadness, also reminds us what a treasure he was to us and to our Order. Memorial contributions may be made to the KAOEF at www.KAOEF.org/donate.
Prayer for Dr. Idris R. Traylor
Almighty God,
We come before You today with heavy hearts, yet with deep gratitude for the life of our brother, Idris Traylor. We thank You for the years You granted him, for the character he displayed, and for the legacy he leaves among us as a gentleman, a scholar, and a faithful brother.
In this moment of loss, grant comfort. Surround us with Your peace, and sustain with the assurance that his life bore fruit in the lives he touched and the example he set.
Strengthen us, O Lord, as brothers bound together in shared memory and shared purpose. Help us to honor him not only with words, but by living out the virtues he embodied—integrity, loyalty, and selfless service to others.
Teach us to number our days wisely, to cherish one another more deeply, and to hold fast to the bonds of brotherhood that endure even unto death. May we walk forward with gratitude for the gift of his life and with hope grounded in Your everlasting care.
Into Your hands we commend our brother, trusting in Your mercy and grace.
Amen.
