Amy McAvoy; Architect, Community Activist

Camarillo resident Amy McAvoy died Wednesday at an Oxnard hospital following a lengthy battle with cancer. She was 80.

McAvoy was born Nov. 3, 1918, in Hot Springs, S. D., and grew up in Black Hills, where her family was in the lumber business.

During the Depression, she moved with her family to Oregon, Nebraska and Colorado. She moved to San Diego during World War II and worked as an aircraft draftsman and mathematician.

She attended college in San Diego, Los Angeles and Ventura.

McAvoy moved to Oxnard with her husband in 1951. They relocated to Camarillo in 1966.

She was a licensed architect and her husband was a contractor, so together they bought Customcraft Construction, which later became known as McAvoy-Ventura Corp.

McAvoy is credited with designing thousands of homes in Ventura County, including subdivisions in Camarillo, Oxnard and Ventura.

She was also well-known for her community activities, particularly for youth services, families in crisis and services for mentally disabled people. McAvoy was chosen Camarillo Woman of the Year in 1989 and was also honored by the Pleasant Valley Historical Society in 1991.

She was a member for nearly 29 years of a citizens advisory committee for the California Youth Authority, and she served 30 years at the Camarillo Boys & Girls Club’s Auxiliary.

At the time of her death, McAvoy was president of the Interface Children Family Services Board of Directors. She and her family were once honored by the United Way of Ventura County, and last year, McAvoy received the Senior Woman of the Year Award from the group Mary Health of the Sick.

McAvoy enjoyed history and art, and wrote a quarterly family newsletter. She organized regular family reunions. She was an accomplished equestrian and markswoman.

McAvoy is survived by a son, Douglas McAvoy of Ventura; four daughters, Laura Choolijian of Camarillo, Colleen Buatti of San Carlos, Heather Krempetz of La Honda and Pamela McAvoy of Thousand Oaks; four sisters, Naomi Bowden of Jesup, Ga., Herma Marsden of Wall, S. D., Ester McGinnis of Portland, Ore., and June Tanner of Durango, Colo; 10 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

There will be a memorial service at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Camarillo United Methodist Church on Anacapa Street.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Ventura County Community Foundation-McAvoy House Fund, Interface Children Family Services, Boys & Girls Club of Camarillo or the Assn. of Retarded Citizens of Ventura County.

Pierce Brothers Griffin Mortuary in Camarillo is handling the arrangements.