Alvin Devane

Alvin Earl DeVane (November 2, 1923 – January 1, 2012) was a former president of the Austin Chapter of SPEBSQSA, the Barbershop Harmony Society. A street in Austin, Texas is named after him. He was a member of The Chordrangers barbershop chorus. He was also an Amateur Radio Operator.

Alvin Earl DeVane was a member of the Austin Police Department from 1957 to 1983. A lot 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 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 in the Dallas paper, where his namesake, Alvin DeVane II resides.