A World War II veteran and former machinist and assembler for International Harvester Co. in Libertyville, Avery Edwin Austin, 80, died of cancer Friday, Feb. 27, in the Illinois Veterans Home in Manteno. Born in Montvale, Va., Mr. Austin grew up in a rural farming community during the Depression. He built bridges as part of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the late 1930s and early 1940s and served as an Army medic in Italy and the Philippines from 1943 to 1945. He married a neighbor from Virginia, Bettie, in 1947. The couple moved to Chicago in the early 1950s. Mr. Austin didn’t want to work in Virginia’s coal mines, said his daughter Deborah Martin and became a heavy machinery assembler in Chicago. In 1968 Mr. Austin took a job with International Harvester Co. and moved the family to McHenry. Mr. Austin, who enjoyed fishing, bowling and gardening, retired in 1986 and moved to Manteno several years ago. His wife died about 10 years ago. Mr. Austin is also survived by a son, Avery; another daughter, D. Jean Sutera; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday, followed by a noon service, at George R. Justen & Son Funeral Home, 3519 W. Elm St., McHenry.
