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Points of View March 21, 2006 Obituary courtesy O'Neill-Dennis Funeral Home, Hancock. Published with Permission. Photos by Michele Anderson.

Obituary: Janet Morrow Avery, 1926-2006

Editor's note: Keweenaw Now wishes to extend to Eugene "Bud" Avery and other members of Janet Avery's family our sincere expression of sympathy in this time of sorrow. We will never forget Janet and her determination to protect the health of Lake Superior and the quality of life here in the Keweenaw Peninsula.

GRATIOT LAKE -- Janet Morrow Avery, 79, of Gratiot Lake, Keweenaw County, died Saturday, March 11, at Marquette General Hospital, after a valiant fight, from complications of pneumonia.

She was the beloved wife of Eugene "Bud" Avery, and mother of Bruce Aller (Allison) of Upton, MA; Vicki Bennett (Rich Luker) of Ann Arbor; Betsy Aller (Andrew Kline) of Kalamazoo; and Laurel Avery-DeWitt (Ian) of Oshkosh, WI. Her dearly beloved grandchildren are Daniel and Abigail Bennett and Max Avery-DeWitt. She also leaves her former son-in-law Ed Kraai, her half-sister Mary Ahlin, and her half-brother Edward Morrow.

Born December 3, 1926, to Richard Joseph Morrow and Elizabeth Woodward Morrow in Waterbury, CT, Janet graduated from Harbor High School, Ashtabula, OH, and attended Kent State University before moving to the Detroit area. She received her BA and MA from Wayne State University, and she taught English and journalism at Liggett School and Grosse Pointe North High School in the Detroit area. Later she taught composition and technical writing in the Department of Humanities at Michigan Technological University from 1981 to 1991. She was a conscientious and caring teacher and was much beloved by her students over the years.

From childhood on, Janet longed to live near Lake Superior, and in 1980 she and Bud moved to their summer cottage on Gratiot Lake in Keweenaw County. For the next 25 years, she worked to protect the environment of the Keweenaw. Janet was an active and articulate citizen at local land use planning meetings, and she was instrumental in the early phases of protecting Bete Grise from over-development. As founder and president of AWAKE (Association Working Against Keweenaw Exploitation), she vigorously sought integrity and accountability for mining activities proposed in the western Upper Peninsula and in Wisconsin.

Janet and Bud Avery present a history of Keweenaw County land use planning at the Oct. 10, 2000, meeting of the Keweenaw County Board of Commissioners. At that meeting Janet Avery called for public input and challenged county officials to cooperate with the Western Upper Peninsula Planning Development District (WUPPDR) in  the effort to develop a comprehensive county land use plan. Two years of work by volunteer township planning committees and WUPPDR followed, and the Keweenaw County Planning/Zoning Commission adopted a land use plan in Dec. 2002. The Commission is now working with zoning expert Mark Wyckoff of Planning and Zoning Center, Inc., Lansing, on the final revision of the County Zoning Ordinance. Click here or on photo for larger version. (File photo by Michele Anderson)

Cremation was arranged by the O'Neill-Dennis Funeral Home, and a memorial gathering in her honor will be held in the spring. Expressions of support may be directed to the Janet M. Avery Memorial Scholarship Fund at the Gratiot Lake Conservancy, or to the Keweenaw Animal Alliance.

The family wishes to extend heartfelt thanks to Ray and Donna Peck and to Ed Kraai for their support and friendship during this time; to the outstanding and caring nurses and doctors at Marquette General Hospital; and to all those who kept Janet and her family in their thoughts and prayers during this time.

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