Jasper Ross Avery of Moscow died Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2013, at Good Samaritan Moscow Village. He was 78.

Jasper was born Feb. 16, 1935, at Lewiston to Clyde L. and Mary E. (Jasper) Avery. He grew up and attended school at Orofino, graduating from high school there. He enrolled at the University of Idaho and continued driving a truck for his father's business, Star Motor Freight, to work his way through college. After high school, he married Dorothy Choate, later divorcing.

Following his graduation from UI in 1957 as a mechanical engineer, he took a position with Westinghouse in Pittsburgh. The family returned to Moscow in 1959 when he took a professorship in the Mechanical Engineering Department, retiring in 1999 after 40 years of teaching. Professor Avery was a member of "The Golden I Club," as a 50-year graduate of UI. He was also a member of the Society of Mechanical Engineers, active in the First Presbyterian Church in Moscow, enjoyed traveling with the Northwest Travelers RV Club and square dancing.

In 1977, he and Louise (Ward) Cummins were married in Spokane. She survives at their Moscow home. Also surviving are his sons, Dale Avery of Yuma, Ariz., and Don Avery of Sparks, Nev; his sister, Nancy Fish of Taylorsville, Utah; stepchildren Les Cummins of Oak Harbor, Wash., Dick Nordlund of Davenport, Wash., and Jerri Richardson of Lake Stevens, Wash., along with six grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by a stepdaughter, Teresa Patterson; a granddaughter, Caran Nordlund; and a daughter-in-law, Carmen Avery.

A memorial service will held at 3 p.m. Saturday at the First Presbyterian Church in Moscow with a reception immediately following. A short inurnment will precede the service at the Moscow Cemetery.

The family suggests memorials be made to the Jasper R. Avery Mechanical Engineering Scholarship Fund, 875 Perimiter Drive, MS 3147, Moscow, ID 83843, or to the Moscow Food Bank, P.O. Box 9106, Moscow, ID 83843.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Short's Funeral Chapel, Moscow, and online condolences may be sent to www.shortsfuneralchapel.net.