Wayland Avery Jr. ’39


Wayland Avery Jr.’39 died April 27 at his home in San Clemente, California. At Dartmouth “Ave” majored in economics and went on to Tuck School, earning his M.B.A. in 1941. He was a member of Chi Phi and a star of the varsity tennis team, winning the New England intercollegiate singles tennis championship in 1938. Ave enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in the South Pacific in World War II. He left active duty in January 1946, but in July 1950 was recalled to active duty and served for a year in Korea. He retired from the Marine Corps in 1954 as a lieutenant colonel. Ave’s first civilian job after Korea was with a metal window wholesale distributor in Jacksonville, Florida, as office manager and later, branch manager. In June 1957 he joined Prudential Insurance Co. and sold life insurance in Jacksonville until 1959, when he transferred to Prudential’s Orange County office in Santa Ana, California. Having sold more than a million dollars of life insurance, he became a member of the Million Dollar Round Table and also earned the title of certified life underwriter. In 1963 Ave took over as manager of the Orange County office of Home Life Insurance Co., retiring in 1979. Ave is survived by his wife of 66 years, Genevieve, daughters Christine and Kathleen Stewart and two grandchildren. He was predeceased by son Thomas ’70.