William Leslie Avery

William Leslie Avery, age 89, who resided at St. Andrew’s Village, passed away after a short illness at The Springs in Aurora, Colorado, on August 22, 2025. He was surrounded in prayer and well wishes from his loved ones afar and lifelong and newer friends nearby, with his nephew and niece at his bedside. He was a very devoted husband to his dear JoAnne who passed away 2 years earlier, 5 days shy of their 41st wedding anniversary, October 9th.

Les continued to update his obituary and funeral plans until the very last few days of his life here on Earth. In his own words…

“I was born at home in the village of Newtonville, Ontario, Canada (east of Toronto), late in the afternoon of January 7, 1936. I was the fourth (and last) child of Mabel and Clifford Avery. I am told that my sister Margaret, who was 3 years old at the time, wanted to prepare some toast for my supper.

As I was growing up, our family moved around quite a bit – from Newtonville to Grafton, to Harwood, to Wicklow, and then to the village of Cold Springs, where I attended a one-room school for my 8 grades of elementary school. For high school, I took a bus to Cobourg, 10 miles away.

My university days started at Victoria College, at the University of Toronto, from where I graduated in 1957 with a major in Classical Greek. This was followed by three years of Seminary at Emmanuel College in Toronto.

Shortly after graduation I married Greta McCormick. This marriage lasted 19 years.

Then I spent a year of graduate study at St. Mary’s College of the University of St Andrews, Scotland, which earned me a Bachelor of Philosophy Degree, which is the equivalent of a Masters in the British system. I spent an additional year of graduate study back at Emmanuel College in Toronto, where I was awarded the Watt Fellowship in Public Worship. This study led to a Master of Theology degree in 1967.

After this study, I began a five-year Pastoral assignment (1962-1967) with the United Church of Canada, serving 3 congregations with 3 services every Sunday.

In 1967, I returned to Scotland, this time Glasgow. In two years, I completed the thesis for my PhD degree supervised by Professor William Barclay. During these years, I served as a part time Assistant Pastor at Greenbank Parish Church in Clarkston, a suburb of Glasgow.

(As an aside, Les was greatly honored by the glowing endorsement given him by this esteemed Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism who authored the Daily Bible Series, which is a collection of commentaries which cover each chapter of the New Testament, focusing on historical and cultural context with practical application to daily life.

Professor Barclay wrote…

“I have the pleasure in testifying to the character and ability of the Rev. W. Leslie Avery. Mr. Avery has been a research student of mine in the Department of New Testament in Glasgow for two years now. He had already done a considerable amount of research before he came to me and he was well acquainted with the technique of research and with the methods which have to be used.

I have been deeply impressed with the thoroughness of his work and with the order and lucidity with which he sets down his results. He is one of the most systematic workers I have ever had work for me. He is also one of the clearest thinkers and his ability to take a mass of evidence and to make an intelligible pattern out of it is very notable.

He is also a person of pleasing personality. He is always courteous, he will argue with strength allied with graciousness, he has his own strong points of view but is always willing to listen to the points of view of others…

In my view he would make an excellent teacher; he would present his material in a most orderly and interesting fashion. He would be approachable to his students and he would be an excellent colleague in any society of which he was a member.”)

I then moved to yet another continent. After I graduated, I was offered a teaching position at the University of Sierra Leone from 1969 to 1974. I later taught for 4 ½ years at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria 1979 to 1983.

After teaching Theology in Western Africa, I returned to North America and was called to the position of Associate Pastor at the First Presbyterian Church in Aurora. The last day of my sabbatical at this church, I happened to sit next to this beautiful red head who was an elder and deacon at the church in which she had grown up with her mom at her side. Several people in the congregation told me they “liked what they saw” when JoAnne Sterling and I were together and within a month we fell in love and the rest is history. We were married in the same church on October 9,1982, surrounded by both of our families from Canada and Illinois. I returned to Nigeria in April 1983 with JoAnne visiting me in June 1983 to finish up my term there.

Upon my return to Colorado, I was offered a teaching position at Regis University in Denver where I held various positions in different programs. I taught a series of classes on Death and Dying which was very meaningful to me. I retired from my full-time position in 2002 but continued to serve at Regis as a Graduate Affiliate Faculty Advisor of the University without Walls Program in which I taught adult students who came from around the world. It was very intense. They came for 4 hours for 5 weeks and in those 20 hours, we covered the work of a semester. In all, I taught for 34 years at Regis.

When Pastor Joe Mares came to the First Presbyterian Church of Aurora, he invited me to be a Parish Associate of this congregation. I was able to continue this ministry until my recent passing.

Over the years, JoAnne and I have taken many national and international trips, which provided a lot of happy memories. In retirement, one of the highlights and very meaningful activities for JoAnne and me was doing Pet Therapy with our shelties Smitty and Uli through the Pet Partners/Delta Society.”

Les was very much an intellectual with great accolades from the world of academia. However, his strong faith in God, genuine friendship, avid interest in Denver and Canadian sports, and love of a good joke, also, need to be remembered.

Les is survived by his nephews Timothy (Daniela) Avery, Glen (Sheila) Avery, and Grant Avery of Ontario and his nephew John Lindquist of Warrenville, Illinois and his niece Lori (John) Walters of Morton, Illinois. He, also, leaves behind many great nephews and nieces who enjoyed his sense of humor and interest in their studies. He was preceded in death by his wife JoAnne, parents Clifford and Mabel Avery, brother George Avery, sister Margaret Avery Turner and her husband Robert (Bob) and niece Janet Avery (Grant.)

A Celebration of Life service will be held at 10:30 AM, Saturday, September 27, 2025, at the First Presbyterian Church of Aurora, with Pastor Doug Friesma officiating. This service will be livestreamed on the Church’s YouTube channel for those unable to attend. Burial will follow at Fairmount Cemetery in Denver with graveside services at 1pm.

Memorials may be made to the First Presbyterian Church of Aurora or Denver Pet Partners.