Michelle McCullough was able to purchase this Memory Bench for her late son, Avery Ravit, with money donated by the Iron Order Motorcycle club’s NC chapter. (Submitted photo)
One Yadkin County mom, aided by area businesses and residents, is on a mission to keep her son’s memory alive in the community.
When Michelle Ravit McCullough speaks about her son Avery Ravit, her pride lights up the room. “He would send me videos daily of him singing and he couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket. He had such a great sense of humor. Anybody that met him loved him.”
Avery passed away on Dec. 21, 2020 from a rare form of cancer called synovial sarcoma. The connective tissue cancer is so rare that it affects just one in a million. He was 28 years old.
Following Avery’s first post-diagnosis surgery, he received physical therapy at Yadkin Physical Therapy in Yadkinville where he made such an impression upon the staff that they hired him as a physical therapy technician.
His mother recalls how the staff said that he would put hand written scriptures on each co-worker’s computer monitor daily, just to brighten their days.
In 2020 Caleb Russell, co-owner of Yadkin Physical Therapy, organized a benefit golfing tournament at Silo Run golf course in Boonville to help cover the cost of Avery’s mounting medical bills.
Rain didn’t even slow down the patrons—“they just played on while Avery rode around in a golf cart, and the event raised over $10,000,” Michelle said.
The next August, after his passing, Yadkin Physical Therapy decided to continue the golf tournament as a memorial, entitled Hit the Tee for Avery. Bojangles and Subway sponsored the event and $7,000 was donated to the Cancer Center of Yadkinville in Avery’s honor.
An event is in the planning stages for this year as well, but the date is yet to be determined.
Avery’s story even caught the attention of the Iron Order Motorcycle club’s NC chapter.
After hearing Avery’s story from the staff at Boonville restaurant, the local chapter banded together and donated a $2,265 check to Michelle in Avery’s memory.
With this money, Michelle was able to purchase a remembrance bench with Avery’s name and the quote “You are missed. I love you, I love you more,” inscribed on it to place by his final resting spot at Glenn’s Chapel in East Bend, but she didn’t want it sitting in the mud. She wanted a permanent concrete slab underneath but pricing for labor was in excess of $1,000, which was way over her budget.
Word got around in the community and she was put in touch with four local men who did the job free of charge. Mark Russell, Keith Russell, Kirk Russell and Mitch Miller not only poured the concrete and mounted the bench, but donated the material and their time. Michelle said she was overjoyed at the “good people that came out to help. It was really nice.” With friends and family like Avery’s dad Timothy Brown “we had a big support group.”
The Yadkin Physical Therapy Yadkinville site is also home to a second memorial bench with Avery’s picture on it.
From grade school until high school, every year, Avery would hand out gifts at the Salvation Army. That level of thoughtfulness is just what Michelle is striving to pay forward. She is working on several projects in his name, such as Adopt-A-Highway as well as possibly penning a children’s book, written especially for children with cancer. “Avery loved clouds—even before he got sick, he would send me random pictures of them. If I write a book, I will have clouds on every page.”