Deanna Avant
Sept. 12, 1939 - Dec. 23, 2024
Deanna Avant, beloved matriarch, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, teacher, and friend died on December 23, 2024. Born to Helma (Bobbie) and George Troast on September 12, 1939, at the San Fernando Valley Hospital, she was a valley girl before the term was even coined. She grew up in Newhall and went to Hart High School where she met the love of her life, Bobby Avant. She went to University of California, Los Angeles (the first in her family to go to college) aiming to be a nurse. But she paused after one year to marry Bobby and begin a family with first Debbi and then Rob.
After Rob started kindergarten, Deanna went back to school at San Diego State University. She received a degree in education and began her long career teaching first grade at Crest Elementary School soon after. Her extraordinary teaching was recognized by the Crest community and beyond when she was named “Teacher of the Year”. She loved nothing more than finding the best in each child, which she saw as the way into both their heart and their mind. Students flocked to her classroom and remembered her warmth, enthusiasm, and willingness to hatch chicks each year.
But Deanna was much more than a teacher.
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