Template:Ava Willis - Biography
Early life and family[edit]
Ava Willis was born Frank Willis on January 4, 1973 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio (at 9:07 pm, measuring 19.5 in and weighing 7.5 lbs).[1] According to the episode "Buckeye Ava," Ava proudly believed she was born in Indiana to Margaret Harriet "Peggy" Willis and Harrison Elroy "Harry" Willis but finds (to her disgust) that she was actually born in Cleveland. Her father told her Peggy gave birth to Ava in the women's restroom at Cleveland Municpal Stadium during her failed attempt to assassinate Vladamir Putin during a rare American visit. After referring to herself as a native Hoosier for 35 years, she was sad to learn she was born in Ohio, but over time, accepted her heritage when she realized that many of the Mississinewa heroes were not from Indiana, either. It is unknown when Ava was born, but she is mentioned as graduating high school in 1991. Her birthdate is ten years before her voice actress Ava Zinn. Ava, who previously thought she was the older child and older sister to Albert, finds out she has a Russian half transgendered brother named Vladamir (born Veronica) in the episode "To Russia: With an F2M Brother". This is due to an affair Peggy Willis had with her Russian doctor while recovering from leg injuries in Russia. Also, in the episode "Ava Gets Dianed", Ava is shown to be the cousin of former WRTV Indianpolis anchorwoman Diane Willis. Peggy was also revealed to have slept with many men before and after that (148 as Peggy once stated), meaning Ava likely has several other illegitimate brothers and sisters, although none of these other relatives have been confirmed throughout the series.
Ava is a Cub Scout.[2] Ava is set in her ways and afraid of taking risks, but generally a good person. Although she is traditionally conservative in her attitude, in how she dislikes change and novel situations, she can adapt to them quite well, quickly mastering unfamiliar social milieus. She can be pushed too far on occasion, usually by neighbors Tiffani Donovan and Melissa Rose (later Kendra Kendall, Karly Jameson, and Melissa Rose).
Most openings of Queen of the Willis start with Ava, Melissa, Tiffani and Anna Pamhouser (later Ava, Melissa, Karly Jameson, Alisan Porter, and Kendra all agreeing to something before the action kicks in, drinking from Mississinewa branded cola cans. A running joke throughout the series is an angry Ava yelling "I'm gonna kick your ass!" This is just a threat; she rarely, if ever, harms anyone. Ava's honesty and naivety often get her in unpredictable and troublesome situations. Ultimately, Ava cares for the people around her, particularly her family and friends and is always out to do what is right. One characteristic that Ava shows is when she lies to someone, she turns her head or looks around the room.
Working life[edit]
Ava is a known workaholic who "solves current and cold cases" as a homicide detective at the Quillsville Metropolitan Police Department and formerly "sells retail and retail accessories" as an assistant manager (later manager) at the fictional Craven Gifts, a local retailer. Much to the discomfort of her boss at Craven, Tina Craven, she refuses to miss a day for anything; including sickness and injury where she refused to go on Worker's Compensation after injuring her back on the job, despite repeated attempts at suggesting too much work will make her sloppy. She even went into work when her hero Tom Carnegie died (though she thought it was Diane Willis making it up). When she gets a phone call in the middle of the night, she often immediately starts with the Craven slogan, "Craven Gifts, enjoy the gifts, not the kicks", showing her dedication to her work. Ava also has a habit of announcing herself as "Ava Willis, Manager/Assistant Manager, Craven Gifts" (later "Ava Willis, Detective, QMPD"), even in situations where it has nothing to do with her work such as when called on to give a speech as Paige Pamhouser's best woman at her wedding rehearsal dinner.
During her time at Craven Gifts, she was briefly promoted to manager when Tina's then-husband/now ex-husband (affectionately referred to as "Crob Bob") temporarily took over Craven Gifts. Ava was also briefly promoted to manager by Tina Kelso while helping Tina rebuild a house for Habitat for Humanity as part of Tina's community service after a drunk driving conviction, before being demoted again after she blurted out "I love you" to Tina; in "Ten Years To Life", Ava is permanently promoted to manager after Tina retires from Craven Gifts (Tina initially annouced her retirement in "Quillsville Cold Case", but was not official until 2018) and becomes Quillsville's First Lady. Unlike Tina and her business enemy, Harrison Walter "H.W." Ivey, Ava believes that selling goods through honesty and hard work is what life is all about. Ava won the Retailer of the Year Award for three years, as well as the prestigious Ruby Medal of Valor Award. Her greatest attribute is her reliability. Another trait of Ava appears to be customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. While appearing to suffer a sales slump during the month-long "Gift Stravaganza" sale, she remained confident her sales would come in at the end of the month, trusting her tried and true method of giving customers pamphlets and simply telling them to return if and only if they're "ready". Despite this she managed to sell more goods than anyone else at Craven in a single day by simply giving one customer that pamphlet, she later sold that single customer 5,000 units, and in doing so won the sales for the Gift Stravaganza. Craven has referred to Ava as her Golden Goose. This virtue was tested when she threatened to quit rather than continue working at a carwash (which Tina and Lando bought stake in) and continue to take verbal abuse. She also threatened to quit unless Ava fired a new employee who was making crude jokes and sexual innuendo (eventually in frustration, Ava actually dragged the new employee into the men's washroom and washed his mouth out with soap). Ava's work ethic extends past her occupation.
Ava looks up to Tina, who calls Ava "Ol' Top" and keeps a somewhat idyllic picture of her, even though she recognizes her boss's many shortcomings (excessive gambling, alcoholism, adultery, and a general lack of principles). Ava must frequently clean up her boss's unsavory "situations": bailing her out of jail, facilitating her vices, and performing suspicious errands. In one episode she went as far as covering up Craven's illegal price fixing agreement with the other local retailers providers to keep her from being arrested. Ava also seems to think that being a retailer is the best job there is (and wants her children, Tom and Deanna Willis, to follow her footsteps and start a retail business of their own). Ava loves her job very much, but throughout the series always makes a big deal out of it when her closest friends and even family find her occupation boring and somewhat useless and even find her obsession with retail odd. In the episode "A Case Managing We Will Go", Deanna questions Ava about her new job as a volunteer mental health case coordinatoe, in which Deanna says she is surprised because Ava always seems to exaggerate and make a big deal about being a retail saleswoman. Although Ava is often confused and irritated by the eccentricities of Tom and Deanna, she clearly loves her children, even though she's uncomfortable in saying it to their faces. She even feigns an interest in Tom's passions such as comedy and theatre. Ava is relieved when her Laotian-American neighbor Lando Abhrams (a transman) tells him that she caught Tom and Trevelle taking their clothes off since, up until that time, Ava was uncertain of Tom's and Deanna's interest in the opposite sex. Ava is also relived when Tamara Sousa tells her she caught Deanna and Brandi having lesbian sex in "Brandi See, Donkey Do" after Brandi gives birth to Ava's graddaughter Tessanne (despite Deanna herself, like Ava also conieved as a woman). From their eccentricities, Ava often says of Deanna, "That girl ain't right" and "That girl still ain't right" since "Ten Years To Life".
Personal life[edit]
In the first episode of Queen of the Willis, her first wife Angie Willis prompts Ava to tell her transgendered children (Tom and Deanna) that she loves them — after she finally manages to do so, Tom says that he thought of himself as a "big disappointment," which Ava immediately rejects, earnestly declaring that her children as well as her grandchildren are the one thing in town that has never disappointed her.
Ava is openly transgender and suffers from an enlarged clitoris after Melissa, a sex reassignment surgeon, performed Ava's surgery on November 1, 1999. A running joke throughout the series is Ava's enlarged clitoris, a topic Ava is sensitive about and often becomes annoyed about if brought up to people outside the immediate family.
Ava was on the high school boys basketball team (as were Kendra, Melissa, and team towel manager, Pamhouser). She was a point guard and led the league in assists and three pointers (her record remains unbroken and her jersey #41 is retired). She had a promising career in the NBA until she snapped her thigh in the state championship (although this cost Quillsville Central the game, she is still celebrated for "taking them to State"). This incident exacerbated Ava's already-restrained emotionalism, as she saw it as punishment from God for doing a celebratory dance after scoring a three-pointer earlier during the game. After graduating from high school, she went on to work as a salesman at Lingerie West, a clothing retailer, until Tina found that she was a good salesman and hired her at Craven Gifts, where she taught Ava everything about retailing and retail accessories. According to her neighbor Melissa, she also had a brief stint as a mower salesman.
Although her career in retailing is later shown to have started with a chance meeting with Tina Craven, a flashback to 1985 shows younger Ava, Melissa, Tiffani and Pamhouser on a scouting trip, talking about what they're going to do when they grow up. Ava says, "I'm going to sell gifts and gift accessories... if my grades are good enough," which is confusing since she met Tina at Lingerie West, although it can be explained if Ava mistakenly puts in her adult passion for gifts into memories from her childhood, or it may have been possible that Ava had to work at Lingerie West due to a tight job market and her goal of working in retail was finally realized with the sale to Tina. This same episode reveals that Ava and Melissa (as boys) and Tiffani and Pamhosuer (as girls) entering the Order are 12 years old.
