Jan. 17, 1943 – Dec. 30, 2016

Lovinia M. Avril was born on Jan. 17, 1943 and passed away Dec. 30 at the young age of 73, just shy of her 74th birthday. She passed in the home of her son Chris and his wife Holly, continuously surrounded by the love of family and friends.

Born Lovinia Parris in La Fayette, Georgia, she learned to hunt, fish, grow food and care for her family at a very young age. She left Georgia as a teenager and moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia for a time, then on to California where she would make Montrose her home for over 40 years. It was there she raised her two boys Chris and Casey who were always the lights of her life.

In the beginning she was a single mother raising her two boys on her meat cutter’s salary from Fazio’s then eventually Albertsons. It wasn’t always easy but she made sure to scrape enough together to buy dirt bikes and go riding as a family. Along with camping, fishing, and Boy Scouts, she always made sure they had what they needed and had fun too.

She would eventually meet the love of her life Eric Avril through a friend in the bakery department, which ended up being Eric’s mother. Lovinia, being the strong adventurous lady she was, became a licensed Dootson’s big rig truck driver, to everyone’s amazement, in the hopes of bringing a better income for her family. She realized early on that being close to home with her kids and Eric, who she would marry, was more important to her.

After marrying Eric in 1983, she loved being his wife and friend, travelling the states, riding Harleys and collecting treasures along the way. Sharing their charming little river rock cottage, they adored being in each other’s company.

She changed careers once more and become an LVN. Incredible as a nurse, she gained the respect and admiration of the doctors and nurses she worked with, along with the patients who always adored her.

Eric passed away in 1993 and Lovinia never remarried but cared for her mother-in-law, her children and friends while continuing to be an exceptional LVN. She worked for Muliken Medical and then Tujunga Medical until she retired.

She loved the holidays, music, movies, and gardening and growing flowers. Being so mechanically inclined she would work on her own machines of all kinds. She would go on one more adventure and bought a home in the very northwest of Montana in 2009 where her brother Sonny lived, making more incredible relationships with amazing people. She would live there independently until returning to California this past fall of 2016.

She was a beautiful lady inside and out, a strong, devoted, loving mother, grandmother, sister and friend. She is now back in the arms of the love of her life Eric and watching as an angel over all she loved and who loved her. She is survived by her sons Casey, Chris and his wife Holly; grandchildren Dustin and Austin; brother Edwin (Sonny) Parris; sister Donna Jean Schreiber; many nieces and nephews across the states and friends she considered family.

The family would also like to thank the incredible hospice team of nurses from Comfort Choice who cared for Lovinia with great compassion and tenderness in the home of Chris and Holly. Lovinia was a remarkable lady and we are the luckiest people to have known and loved her and to have her love us. It’s immeasurable how much she will be missed.

A private celebration of life service will be held on Feb. 11 at 1 p.m. for family and friends.

Please contact family for info.