08/08/2026
After a couple year hiatus, MoCommSS is THRILLED to return with another edition of People of MoCo! This POMOCO, we’re happy to present Travis Brownrigg, a Morgan Country resident who we think exemplifies the humility and industriousness inherent to Morgan County’s people. This post is part 1/2 of Travis' story, with part 2 coming this afternoon, so stay tuned!
A lifelong Morgan County resident, Travis spent the earliest years of his life out on Brownrigg Road (off State Route 60) but moved to McConnelsville proper when he was five. (The road, unsurprisingly, owes its namesake to Travis’ ancestors.) Travis graduated from Morgan High School in 2003 and has been working in and around the area ever since. Travis currently lives on Kennebec with his “grandfather” Galen Finley (no blood relation) and their stray-cat-turned-pet, Yellow.
(Not to get sidetracked, but Galen has been a pillar of the community for decades and could easily feature in a POMOCO of his own. He currently serves as the pastor of The Church of Gospel Ministry and the President of the Morgan County Historical society, but has previously served as village administrator, owner (and rescuer!) of the Opera House, and was even elected as the mayor of McConnelsville back in 1967. At the time, he was the youngest mayor ever elected in Ohio! Quite the resume! But back to Travis…)
Always one to stay busy, Travis’ first job was working at the Opera House at age 14. Growing up, Travis’ mother worked as a nurse and would have liked to see him follow in her footsteps and go into Physical Therapy or something similar. But as fate would have it, he took carpentry in high school, fell in love with it, and ended up instead following in his father’s footsteps as a boilermaker. Travis has worked in the trades ever since. Currently, he’s a member of the Central Midwest Regional Council of Carpenters and has been for about seven years now.
He believes there’s an honesty to this kind of work. No one’s being hurt or taken advantage of, instead you’re building things or fixing things for people. But, there’s an unglamorous side of the work as well that can get ignored though. It’s physically strenuous, can have demanding hours, can expose people to carcinogens…he says that unfortunately, blue-collar workers have to expect that the work will leave them a little battered and broken at the end of it all.
However, Travis is still an advocate for the lifestyle, good parts and bad. “I truly wholeheartedly believe in vocational education,” Travis says. He doesn’t wish to deter anyone from entering the field and believes that vocational work is a great opportunity for those who can do it. “If you consider something hard, you’ve told yourself it’s going to be harder than it needs to be.” While the work can be difficult, both physically and mentally, Travis believes anything can be broken down into simple steps that are manageable on their own....
Stick around for Pt 2 of Travis' story later this afternoon!
