Avis is a retired public school teacher and taught Heath Education for thirty four years; however, although technically retired, she is currently teaching courses at two community colleges. Her husband Leo was a farmer and they were married for forty-six years. Leo passed away in November of 2015. Avis has been fascinated by bees since childhood and when her father brought home a log filled with honey bees, she knew that beekeeping was what she wanted to do. Later during marriage, Leo seen an advertisement about a beekeeping class that was being offered locally. With much enthusiasm, he successfully convinced Avis to attend the beekeeping class, only later to have Avis herself convince him to join her. Over the many years working with bees, Leo supported Avis in many ways. Leo planted buckwheat and clover for bee pollination, and during the fall season before he passed— He also planted an orchard of fruit trees for Avis and the bees. Avis and Leo helped mentor and teach a countless number of children about honey bees. They would even bring large quantities of honey for the children to taste as according to Avis 'many kids have never tasted honey' and they wanted to change that. Today, she continues to bring honey for children to taste and completely funds all such activities herself. Overall, Avis and Leo worked together with honey bees for about ten years.