Joseph Anthony Avella

He is survived by his wife Laverne, his daughters Deb and husband Jeff, Valerie, and sons Mike and wife Ilene, Rich and wife Sharon, grandchildren Daniel Rajan-Hetschel (Shivani), Nicole Harrelson (Matt), Alyssa Figueroa (Ivan), Tony Stephens (Krissy), Ryan Avella (Willa), Sean Avella, and Esther Goldey-Avella, great grandsons Henry, Lucas, Tyler and great granddaughters Emily, Harper, Haley and Josephine. Joseph was preceded in death by his grandson, Joey Hetschel.

Joe lived on the Hilarita dairy in Tiburon, California as a child. Thought to be a quiet boy when he started school, teachers learned that he could only speak Portuguese. Joe said he was king of the hill as an only child until his beloved sister Virginia was born 10 years later, at which time he was demoted and she became queen. Joe said he loved to listen to radio shows like Orphan Annie, The Green Hornet, Dick Tracy, Flash Gordon, and The Shadow.

Joe met his best friend, Loren Plum in 1st grade. They were inseparable from then on, and although Loren moved to Oregon after getting married, they continued to vacation in RVs or go on fishing trips together and called each other every Saturday night for decades until Loren passed away in 2016.

Joe was 1 of 200,000 that walked Golden Gate Bridge on May 27, 1937 before cars went across it. He went to Tamalpais High School and though not able to participate much in sports due to work on the ranch, he took pride that he once finished 1st in a 1 mile race and took 1st place in lightweight boxing.

Joe was drafted into the Army in February 1951 and served for 21 months, as a Corporal in the 38th Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Division in the frontlines of Korea (1951-52) as a rifleman (M-1 rifle), radio carrier for a 2nd lieutenant, and a member of a five man squad for a 57mm M18 recoilless rifle. Going to the Veteran’s Day parade in Petaluma was something Joe always looked forward to.

Joe met Laverne Azevedo at a Portuguese dance in Sausalito in 1953, got engaged February 14, 1954 and were married in May 1955. They moved to the Nunes Dairy in Marin County in late 1955 where they began a successful 30 year career running their own excavation business. Joe loved deer hunting, fishing and the outdoors, and travelling with Laverne. They started out with a small travel trailer and moved up to a class B motorhome and several class A motorhomes, traveling all over the country to places like Alaska, Iowa (to see his sister), Mexico, Arizona in the spring with The Snowbirds, and Oregon to spend time with his buddy Loren. Joe finally stopped driving his class A motorhome at 90 years old!

Services will be held at Our Lady of Loretto Church in Novato on February 15 at 10:30 am, reception following across the street at Keaton’s Redwood Chapel of Marin. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Homes for our Troops (hfotusa.org)