Alvin Ray LYNN

October 14, 1938-August 27, 2020

For God So Loved The World That He Gave His Only Begotten Son, That Whosoever Believeth In Him Should Not Perish But Have Everlasting Life. John 3:16

Married July 26, 1964
Shared stone with Doris Nadyne Faulkenberry Lynn

*Obituary
Alvin Ray Lynn
October 14, 1938 - August 27, 2020

Angels who protected Alvin Ray Lynn during all his adventurous life carried him to his home in heaven August 27, 2020.

Services will be held at 10:00 A.M. on Saturday, August 29, 2020, at Paramount Baptist Church, 3801 South Western Street, Amarillo, with Pastor Andrew Hebert officiating.

A graveside service will be held at 5:00 P.M. on Saturday at the Seagraves Gaines County Cemetery, where he will be interred.

The third of nine children born to Lonzo Lacy and Elsie Mae Mohling Lynn, he was born October 14, 1938, at Four Corners, east of Whiteflat, Motley County, Texas. He was the grandson of Joel Edward and Ida Mae Tadlock Lynn and Carl Fred "Charlie" and Lydia Lilly H. "Liddy" Ommen Mohling, and step-grandmother Ophelia "Rella" Gill Touchstone Mohling.

Alvin grew up on a farm just below the Caprock Escarpment of the Staked Plains of Texas, the site his family chose when they left Oklahoma in 1937. Alvin worked on the family farm and roamed the hills, fields, and pastures of Motley County. Relics he discovered whetted his curiosity of earlier cultures and launched him on a lifelong pursuit of the people who were there before him - the pioneers, cowboys, buffalo hunters, Indians and travelers.

Alvin went to first and second grades at Whiteflat, where, in 1944, Brother A. E. Butterfield, a Methodist preacher to the Comanches, Kiowas, and Apaches in Oklahoma, gave a school program that fueled the little flame already burning within Alvin, and ever after, he was a student of history. When Whiteflat School closed in 1946, the students transferred to Matador where Alvin studied under some outstanding teachers. His agriculture teacher, Bill Moss, taught him "Everything a Boy Needs to Know to Live in the World." Alvin was a standout high school athlete and played on the West team in the 1956 Greenbelt Bowl in Childress. He went to West Texas State College in Canyon on a football scholarship and played under Frank Kimbrough and Clark Jarnigan. He lettered three years and was on the team that defeated Mississippi Southern in the Tangerine Bowl in 1957. He was a member of the T-Club and the Geology Club.

In 1961, Alvin graduated from West Texas State College in Canyon with a Bachelor of Science degree in geology. He earned a Master of Science degree from West Texas State University in 1975.

With a major in geology, Alvin experienced what he knew—that geology is a fickle field—and those who choose it choose a life of booms and busts. His job offer in geology in 1963 was in Australia, and he chose to stay in Texas and marry his sweetheart, Nadyne Faulkenberry. On Sunday, July 26, 1964, at the First Baptist Church in Seagraves, they promised to love and cherish each other for life.

Alvin returned to WT, earned a teaching certificate, and thus began his 33-year coaching-teaching career. He was assistant coach for the Springlake-Earth Wolverines in 1963-1964, and the Dumas Demons from 1965-1974. Back injuries forced him to stop coaching in 1974, but the young men he coached never stopped calling him "Coach."

Alvin spent over thirty years of his life teaching physical science to ninth grade students. He respected that mid-teen stage of life and appreciated the enthusiasm fifteen-year-olds exhibit—he could recognize ninth graders from afar by their aura. Along the way, Alvin taught social studies, biology, geology, and anthropology and worked with older teenagers and college students; with them, as with ninth graders, his goal was always to give them tools to meet life's demands. One of Alvin's special gifts was paying attention to shy individuals, no matter what their age.

Having learned a strong work ethic from his parents, Alvin contributed to the family resources from an early age—when he was twelve years old, he drove a truck to New Mexico for Mr. Thelma Casey; he was a soda jerk at Vaughn's Drug; he pumped gas at Bob's Oil Well; he went on the wheat harvest during his college years; he toned his muscles and reflexes working on an oil rig; worked for the U.S. Forrest Service at Buffalo Lake; sold sporting goods in Furr's Family Center in Lubbock; was a life-guard in Dumas; and devoted hours and hours of time and resources to Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, civic clubs, schools, and organizations.

In every job, Alvin gave his total effort as evidenced by various presentations. In 1975, he received recognition as an outstanding secondary educator of America for his contributions to the advancement of secondary education and service to community; in 1977, the Dumas Chamber of Commerce presented the Joyce Dillow Award to him for his unselfish contribution to the community; in 1979, he was named Teacher of the Year for Dumas Independent School District; in 2007, the Texas State Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution recognized him with the Community Service Award for excellence in community service; in 2008, the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution awarded the DAR Medal of Honor to him for leadership, trustworthiness, service, and patriotism. Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum was recipient of a Ward-Burton rifle given by an anonymous donor in honor of Alvin 2011.

In 2013, Alvin received notification of the establishment of the Alvin Lynn Endowment for Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum by an anonymous donor. DHS inducted Alvin into the 2015 Dumas High School Hall of Fame. Alvin received the 2019 Curtis D. Tunnell Lifetime Achievement Award in Archeology from the Texas Historical Commission real places telling real stories award.

Alvin was a Christian who loved the Lord and served Him in many capacities. Describing himself as a Metho-Baptist, Alvin, as a child, attended church in Whiteflat where the Baptist and Methodist pastors preached on alternate Sundays in the same little church house. Alvin joined Lubbock First Baptist Church in 1962, and, later, served as Sunday School teacher and deacon at Dumas First Baptist Church and Paramount Baptist Church in Amarillo. He had a special affinity for oldsters, relating Bible lessons to their experiences in days gone by. Alvin treasured the golden moments he had with old-timers when they shared with him some historical event of their era.

Alvin was an active member of Boy Scouts of America at Matador and an honorary member of BSA Troup #202 in Dumas; Potter County Historical Society; WT Geology Club; Amarillo Classroom Teachers; Texas State Teachers Association; Westerners International; Santa Fe Trail Association; Panhandle Archeological Society; West Texas Historical Association; Wild West History Association; Ranching Heritage Association; and Texas Archeological Society. He served on the board of directors for the Dumas YMCA and Wildcat Bluff Nature Center in Amarillo. He was a steward for the Texas Historical Commission. He was a volunteer at PPHM and member of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Society, taking to heart the quote of Hattie Anderson founder, "It is the sacred duty of ours to collect the record of life here and hand this on to the children of the future."

Alvin was an avid researcher. He wrote numerous scientific papers and was a contributing author to 100 Moore Years: A History of Moore County, Texas. He spent three years working on the Red River War Project. He located the trail taken by Kit Carson in 1864 on his winter campaign to fight the Kiowas and Comanches at Adobe Walls. In 2014, after researching for fifteen years, Texas Tech University Press published Alvin's award-winning book, Kit Carson and the First Battle of Adobe Walls - A Tale of Two Journeys."

In 1997, Alvin and Nadyne, after living in Dumas for thirty-three years, moved to Amarillo into the home that Alvin planned and built. There they grew old together, pursuing their interests and enjoying the turkeys, deer, and little birds whose habitat was East Amarillo Creek, which ran through their backyard, a place that was the former home of Hillcrest Golf and Country Club in Amarillo's early years. Alvin began and ended each day with a thought for the animals, feeding them and checking their water supply and gathering in the Lynn's menagerie of cats for the night.

In 2005, Alvin began a long journey with carcinoid, a rare neuroendocrine cancer. While recovering from surgery in Ochsner Medical Center in Kenner, he dreamed of small pieces of paper drifting upward. Upon asking what they were, the answer came, "They are prayers for you ascending to heaven." Alvin and his wife appreciated the prayers of family and friends and the care of local doctors Lennard, Esler, Merki and New Orleans carcinoid doctors Anthony, Boudreaux, Woltering, and Maluccio.

Preceding Alvin in death were his father Lonzo Lacy Lynn in 1979; his mother Elsie Mae Mohling Lynn in 1993; two sisters, Virginia Lee Lynn in 1943 and Mary Ruth Lynn McCallie in 1996; his father-in-law, William Charlie Faulkenberry in 2000; and four brothers-in-law Barney Lee Colwell, Wilbur Jack Davis, Jr., Don Lee Burditt, Gene Jolley, and Jimmy Douglas Hadaway.

Survivors include his wife of 56 years, Nadyne; one brother, Lonnie Eugene "Buddy" and (Marianne Angelika Hoffend) Lynn of Childress; five sisters, Carlene Joan Lynn Colwell of Benbrook; Lilly Joyce Lynn Morton and (Robert Parker) Morton of Cleveland; Doris Daphene 'Deanie' Lynn Davis Jolley and (Ben Thomas) Edwards of Matador; Glenda Lee Lynn Burditt Coleman and (Hylas Marion) Martin of Dumas; and Teresa Gail Lynn and (Larry Kent) Noland of Gainesville; one brother-in-law Jack Ewing and (Carla Ricketts Clark) McCallie, Jr. of Amarillo.
Also surviving him are his mother-in-law Lucille Avary Faulkenberry of Seagraves; sister-in-law Jeanette Faulkenberry Hadaway of Seagraves; and brother-in-law Joe Thomas and (Linda Sue Hebel Stogner) Faulkenberry of Canyon, and former sister-in-law Linda Mae Glass Faulkenberry Mitchell of Austin; many nieces and nephews; and his and Nadyne's godchildren—children of Gary and Mayla Ward, Jess and Lola Jean Starkey, Connie and Romelia Robinson, and Mike and Tobie Peacock.

For anyone wishing to give a memorial, the family suggests the Zebra House, "Ochsner Foundation –Zebra Fund," 200 West Esplanade Avenue, Suite 200, Kenner, LA.

Brooks Funeral Directors

Contributed on 5/21/23 by neldapat
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Record #: 571943

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