He turned often to his faith, and his jewelry expresses it. “He was very successful, but he also experienced, like anyone who lives long enough, pain and disappointment. “His artistry was his ministry,” Reed said. Reed later received a custom James Avery cross to wear with his priest vestments and a ring when he was named bishop. By that time, he already owned a James Avery cross ring and silver bookmark gifted to him, as many of the Episcopal women’s church groups sold the jewelry to raise money for charity work. Ideas, plenty of hard work, and prayers – not necessarily in that order – were the rule of each day.”Īvery’s first big break came when his mother-in-law began selling the items he designed at a local summer youth camp where she worked.ĭavid Reed, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas, first met Avery when the jeweler’s sons attended one of those camps and Reed worked as a camp counselor. He once said, “I worked alone for three years. It was during a visit to Kerrville in 1954 that Avery decided to launch the namesake business. Later, while teaching at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Avery learned jewelry-making techniques from a library book, eventually crafting cross pendants at students’ request. After the war, he earned a degree in industrial design from the University of Illinois. He commanded a B-26 bomber during World War II, surviving 44 missions over Germany. Air Corps and was stationed at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. You definitely knew when he came in the building.”īorn in 1921 in Milwaukee, Avery served in the U.S. He was one of those larger-than-life kind of people. “And each one of us had a different skill set he would use to create the variety of designs you have now. “Jim was very inspirational, but he had a vision of where he was going and what he wanted to do artistically, and he used us to make those things become a reality,” he said. One 20-year employee, who asked not to be named for this story, described Avery as a force of nature. The company currently employs 3,500 people and operates five manufacturing plants and 80 stores throughout Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. James Avery (1921-2018) Credit: Courtesy / James Avery Craftsman
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