Obituary of Avis Loree Claeys

Avis Loree Claeys

“Remember me when flowers bloom

Early in the spring

Remember me on sunny days

In the fun that summer brings.

Remember me in the fall as you

Walk through leaves of gold.

And in the wintertime

Remember me in the stories told.

But most of all remember

Each day right from the start

I will be forever near

For I live within your heart.”

Judith Bulock Morse

Avis Loree Claeys passed away peacefully at home on February 28, 2021 after a brief illness.  Avis was born October 24, 1924 in Clarence, Iowa, to parents Jesse (“Jack”) and Ethel Shriver.  After an idyllic small-town childhood, and making the best of the Great Depression, at the young age of seventeen Avis left Clarence in 1942 for Washington, D.C., where she became a typist/secretary to J. Kenneth Galbraith, Deputy Director of the wartime Office of Price Administration.  Wanting to do more on a personal level for the war effort, Avis left Washington after a year and enrolled in nurses training, returning to her home state of Iowa.  It was during her nurses training in Iowa City that she met a dashing young Naval Aviator ensign named Norb.  After several years of an on again, off again, enforced long distance relationship due to Norb’s training and active duty assignments, with the end of the war and Norb’s discharge from active duty, they were married on August 25, 1948.  The couple settled in Detroit, Michigan, and had three children; a daughter, Marsha, and two sons, Richard, and Christopher.  After 38 years in the same home, Avis and Norb retired and decided to move to Tucson, Arizona where they lived together for the rest of their lives, enjoying their many friends and activities at the Desert Pueblo Mobile Home Park.  Avis was a life-long enthusiastic proponent of the benefits of dancing, beginning as a tap dancer in her childhood, and leading line dancing classes up until shortly before her passing.

Avis is predeceased by her husband of 66 years, Norbert, her daughter Marsha Carney, granddaughter Jessica Carney, and brothers Robert, Darrell, and George Shriver.  She is survived by her sons Richard and Christopher, daughters-in-law Heidi and Barbara, son-in-law Michael Carney, grandchildren Tobi Oxenrider, Katie Clark, Patrick Carney, Allison Claeys, Michael Rodriguez, Christina Lanius, eleven great-grandchildren, numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, and dear friends.

In lieu of flowers, the family encourages donations in Avis’s memory to the Jessie and Marsha Carney Scholarship Fund, P. O. Box 11006, Santa Rosa, CA. 95406 (https://srhsf.org); Soulistic Hospice (https://soulistichospice.org), whose staff provided truly exceptional care for Avis over the last eight months of her life; or to the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona (https://www.communityfoodbank.org).

“A beautiful life came to an end,

she died as she lived, everyone’s friend.

In our hearts a memory will always be kept,

Of one whom we loved, and will never forget.”

Author unknown