Speaking for the Shrine High School Class of 1975...
We miss you, Dan.  Learned of your departure last December when I was hoping to visit when in-state for the Fiesta Bowl with Vickers.
Saw Burnett and Medici and we talked fondly of you.
I'll see you some day in that Boy Scout camp in the sky...We'll canoe the Au Sable and you can refresh my memory on a few knots...
Charlie D.

So sorry to hear of Dan’s passing, I just heard about it today. I go back 50+ years  or so when Dan and I were part of a group Catholic school boys finding their way in our own turbulent times of the early 1970s .To his family and close friends please accept my condolences and hope my memories bring a warm thoughts of Dan.
He was a card caring member of D.R.E.A.D (Detroit Rockers Engaged in the Abolition of Disco) and a dues paying member of Shrine High’s National Dishonor Society.If that wasn’t enough he was  true  and loyal friend.
Somewhere in time in a black light lite Royal Oak basement, a purple haze wafted above us, and a favorite tune  was played(cue the music)
Wo Ho….. I was slipping into darkness, when they took my friend away…
See you on the other side old friend
Jeff Walker

It is with great remorse that I find that Dan has passed.
I am on my way to Phoenix for the Fiesta Bowl and will be in Dan's state of Arizona. Would have liked to touch base. 
Dan was a Shrine Grade School and high school friend. I befriended Dan in the Boy Scouts and started to hang out with him in Royal Oak.
We showed him "the cave" in Walker's basement and Dan began to dig it.  ; )  ;  ) !   Dan was the Eagle Scout responsible for the keg of beer in the front of  his canoe as we traveled the Au Sable in the snow for Spring Break, 1975.  You're a good man, Averill. Love you like a brother.

Charlie Dillon
Royal Oak, MI

Just learned of Dans passing & wanted to share my condolences.  Cousin Danny was witty and engaging with an upbeat spirited approach.  So sorry for the family’s loss., sending light and love in your remembrances.  

I’ve known Dan for close to the 15 years he was at Raytheon, as someone we all looked up to. From the moment you met him, it was clear that he was intensely honest, technically brilliant, curious about everything, and most of all, gregarious. His intellect, wit, and attention to detail challenged us in so many ways. He was always engaging and provided a mix of clever humor with the technical depth needed for the occasion. I had the pleasure to announce Dan’s selection into Engineering Honors and his promotion to Engineering Fellow.  In both cases, his excitement, humility, and appreciation was the most memorable and touching of anyone I know. Dan was a natural teacher and mentor to so many, and was a true role model to others.  Unfortunately during the pandemic, we were limited in our face to face communications, but Dan provided such an engaging interaction even on Zoom. The most recent picture we have is a meeting around Christmas last year. As you can tell from his face, Christmas lights around his neck, and guitars in the background, his personality and character were unique. Dan, I think of you so often now,  I will truly miss you.  

Dan and I spent the better part of the last 5 years on the same program and continued running into each other on various review panels. We received our Engineering Fellow recognition on the same cycle with Richard Burt and he couldn’t have been prouder at the dinner. Of course back at work, the team congratulated Richard and I over and over, leaving Dan to exclaim that he got one too!! It was the teams way of showing Dan the love and he ate it up. 
We also traveled to the field for work, spending time around the bar and the patio at our “favorite” travel spot with the field crew. I’m sure no one would be surprised to hear that Dan told stories! And more stories and laughs in the lab where we spent a lot of time together prior to Covid. As AFC north rivals, we also poked at each other all through football season.
I will always remember watching him, in his glory, teaching and coaching the newer team members, the next gen of data analysis and development-always predicated with a Dan story!! He really took the time to help. 
He will be remembered fondly and missed dearly.  

How can Danny be gone?  He was so full of life and energy, of the love of his family  — human and canine! — and of his friends, whom we were honored to be.  

Our hearts go out to you, Janet.  And to you, sons Danny and Tommy.  

Each of us — Bret, Sue Ann, Keith, Leslie  — met Danny at a different time but has known and loved him for decades.  It was in 1976 that the first node of our network was established, in the Pike house at Northwestern University, near Chicago, where Bret and Danny met.  That network came to include all of us as our lives converged in New York and New Jersey, and then in the DC area and Annapolis.  Through changes and challenges, Danny stuck by us, and we by him — and by Janet, with whom Dan was most fortunate to share his life.  Even in later years, when proximity was lost, we never lost that sense of connection. 

We miss so much about Danny.  His capacious brilliance, his hungry mind, a ceaselessly recollecting mind that loved to share its feasts with us.  His zest for details.  His candor and his wit, which were often one and the same.  

That grin he had.  

The very sound of his voice — we can hear it, still — emphatic, wry, bright, flickering with laughter … and, at just the right moments, sentimental.  

With boundless gratitude we recall the way he had of appreciating, treasuring, those he loved, each one of us.  And the miles he cheerfully traveled to lend his help and support.   A true heart!  

What a time he had.  What a time we all had, together.  Though we so wanted it to be longer.

Hail and farewell, Danny.  We love you forever. 

I met Dan in the fall of 2008 where we worked on the same program. Great sense of humor, especially during contentious meetings.  Great guy to talk to and always had a smile. Love his sportscoats. 
I would see him around campus from time-to-time and stop and chat to catch up. Then I moved on and hadn't seen him in almost 10 years when we were thrown together on a  project. Same smiling guy with a great sense of humor.
I really enjoyed being around Dan and I'm very grateful for having met him. 

Ron Plunkett

Met Dan back six or seven years ago at work.  Dan was the nicest guy.   Although I did not work directly with him, he and I would cross paths and exchange conversation on what he was up to at work and a little about our personal lives.  He was always sporting his signature sport coat style wherever he went.   Got to meet Janet a few years ago at a Barrio Brewing happy hour, such a nice couple.  We will miss his smile and great attitude.

Having graduated from NU the spring prior to Dan’s freshman year, I had never met him until we began the weekly zoom calls during the pandemic. I felt like I’d known him all my life, and since we were, at the time, driving back and forth between home in Austin and work in San Diego, we promised to stop in Tucson on one of our next drives when not so pressed for time. This past June, to meet Dan and celebrate my birthday with a fellow Gemini, the sister of a late Pike brother, we met Dan and Janet for dinner and it was true friendship at last. We got the lowdown on training borzois and felt so simpatico on our world views that I was certain we would see Dan and Janet again soon and as often as possible thereafter.

It was with great sadness and yes, anger that I heard of his illness and dire prognosis. My heart goes out to Janet and his entire family and family of friends, and I’m sorry to have only met him so late in life. Still, we are so glad we made that stop in Tucson last June. He will be sorely missed.

OBITUARY

Daniel Patrick Averill

5 January, 1958 – 27 September, 2021

East Lawn Palms Mortuary & Cemetery

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