Denys Avis
Husband, father, grandfather, engineer. Born on March 30, 1928, in London, England; died on Nov. 29, 2014, in Toronto, of cancer, aged 86.
Denys was an only child, born in London and raised by Maude and Arthur Avis in a typically reserved British manner. He never spoke much of his early years, but we always sensed that they were lonely and tinged with disappointment that his family wasn't larger and more demonstrative.
His world opened up when they moved to a small village near Birmingham. The Dutton family lived two doors down and he and Brenda Dutton – pretty, vivacious and two years his junior – became a couple when he was 16. Although the Second World War was a constant backdrop, their courtship was fun and filled with friends. After the war, Denys trained as an engineer, apprenticing in Germany while Brenda stayed in England, studying to be a teacher.
They married in April, 1952, and honeymooned in Wales, travelling in Denys's homemade car, its body constructed of wood and canvas. They often recounted how they had to navigate the Welsh hills backward, as the gas tank was on a gravity feed and they were perpetually low on gas. Two years later they immigrated to Canada, ending up in Windsor, Ont., where Denys worked as an automotive engineer for Ford.
Their Windsor years were busy and happy. Lifelong friendships were made and their children were born, John in 1958, Sue in 1960. Denys continued his engineering and building ways by constructing a cabin cruiser on the front lawn and adding a rec room to their home. In 1969 he took a new job, with Hoover Canada in Burlington, Ont., where he and Brenda undertook the complete renovation of a century-old farmhouse.
In 1990, they retired to Brighton, Ont., where he designed and built their dream home in the Northumberland Hills. There, surrounded by farmland and forests, they were at their happiest, always busy with friends and involved with the community – Denys with the Brighton Lions Club and Brenda with her painting and sketching groups.
When Brenda died of leukemia in April, 2000, Denys was heartbroken, though he continued on in typical English fashion. Always accompanied by his faithful canine companion, Robin, he threw himself into more volunteer work, taught himself to cook and held dinner parties, maintained Brenda's perennial gardens, kept an immaculate house, handcrafted beautiful furniture, and involved himself in the lives of his children and four grandchildren.
His blunt assessments of the cooking skills of John and Sue were a constant source of amusement to family and friends, and the annual family trip to Lake Shebeshekong, near Parry Sound, was a highlight of his year. His search for a perfect napping rock, warmed by the late summer sun of Northern Ontario, was his daily quest.
Denys faced his cancer diagnosis five years ago with pragmatism and discretion and managed to stay in his home until the fall of 2013, when he moved to Toronto to be closer to me and my family, and his medical team. His last five months were difficult ones, but even then he kept up a brave face and managed to find something worthwhile in each day. He was much loved, and leaves a deep void in our lives.
Sue Avis is Denys's daughter.