Alvin Devane

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Noah Funderburg will take office as international president of the Barbershop Harmony Society (SPEBSQSA) in January 2007. For a list of BHS past international presidents, please visit www.barbershop.org/web/groups/public/documents/pages/pub_id_062253.hcsp

Alvin DeVane is the former President the Austin Chapter of SPEBSQSA, the Barbershop Harmony Society. A street in Austin, Texas is named after him. He was a member of the barbershop chorus, The Chordrangers. He is also an Amateur Radio Operator.

Alvin Earl DeVane was a member of the Austin Police Department from 1957-1983. Much of his time there was spent as a street cop, but he later achieved the rank of Lieutenant and served in the traffic office. When he was nearing retirement, one of his daughters decided to try to have a street named after him as a retirement gift. She started by writing a letter to a popular Q&A columnist in the Austin American Statesman, Ellie Rucker. She then investigated the possibility of changing the name of the street he lived on, but soon found that to be entirely too cumbersome a project. She moved on to finding a developer who would name a new street after him instead. She contacted an acquaintance of his in the city's Street and Bridge department who was instrumental in making it happen. A new development was being planned for southeast Austin, that would be the site of Advanced Micro Devices. Thanks to the generosity of a developer, her dream became a reality in December of 1984. Street and Bridge made a street sign for her to present to him along with the city plat, detailing the location. The event was covered by a local news television station and was also picked up by the AP, appearing the Dallas paper, where his namesake, Alvin DeVane II resides.