Obituary of F. Piner Avis
(C. Avis Catalog entry #117)
(Document #503)
Wichita Daily Times
1-21-1958
p. 2
Pioneer Native Wichitan Dies After Long Illness
F. Piner Avis, 72-year-old native Wichitan, died about midnight Monday in his home at 1105 Taylor, following a lengthy illness.
Funeral services are scheduled at 10:30 a. m. Wednesday in the Hampton-Vaughan-Merkle Funeral Home chapel.
Rev. L. McD Kennedy Jr., pastor of Fain Memorial Presbyterian Church, will officiate. Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery.
Son of the first white man born in Montague County, Texas, Piner was born Dec. 17, 1885, in Wichita Falls. As a youngster, Avis saw his community spring from a few shacks and tents into a thriving city.
A cowboy for much of his early life, because he wanted to be, Avis purchased one of the first automobiles in Wichita Falls back in 1908. Later this car was stolen, the first automobile theft reported in the state.
Following his career as a cow-poke, Avis began working in the old Panhandle Bank (now the First National).
One of Avis's proudest boasts was that he had never been thrown from a horse ("I could ride anything with hair”) and the pioneer Wichitan would recall that some of his happiest days were spent in the saddle.
In past years, Avis was in the cattle brokerage business and operated the 4,394 acres remaining in the old Barefoot Bryant spread.
A charter member of the Wichita Falls Elks Lodge, Avis was also one of the first to subscribe to a city chamber of commerce.
Good-natured and friendly, the pioneer insisted friends call him by his given name.
Many times in recent years attorneys sought the aid of Avis when seeking to clear up property disputes and the pioneer rancher always obliged but refused payment for his services.
Survivors include his wife; a daughter, Mrs. Marvin L. McCullough, Wichita Falls; three sisters, Mrs. Lillian Baum and Mrs. Ruby Dunkleberg, both of Wichita Falls, and Mrs. Fred Weeks, Tyler, two brothers, Dave Avis, Wichita Falls, and Jake Avis, Austin; and a granddaughter, Miss Marilyn McCullough, Wichita Falls.