Alvin Carmichael

Alvin James Carmichael of Pecan Plantation in Granbury, died Thursday, December 6, after a short illness. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, December 9, at Marshall & Marshall Funeral Directors Chapel in Hillsboro with John Pelham and Don Poteet officiating. Burial will follow at Hillcrest Garden of Memory near Hillsboro. Visitation will be from Noon-1:30 p.m. Sunday prior to service time.

Alvin was born at Woodbury, Texas, July 8, 1923, to Conway Dodson and Alpha Swink Carmichael. His passion in life was coaching. He served in the Army Air Corps in World War II as a glider mechanic, including a stint in Sicily. On April 14, 1950, he married Hazel Charlene Maxwell from Bynum, who shared life and children with him until her untimely death in 1987. Alvin was twice-blessed when he married Betty Jean Tyra Wilson, originally from Aquilla, on July 3, 1988, and lived with her in happiness until his death.

Coach Carmichael was graduated from Texas Christian University in 1951. In 1960, he obtained a Master’s Degree from the current University of North Texas. He later studied at San Jose State University. He taught Mathematics. He was a member of the Church of Christ.

He is renowned in the Whitney area for two successful football head coaching careers there, one in the fifties and one in the seventies. He served as a head coach at Navarro College (football, basketball, golf), and Lancaster High School (football), as well as coaching or teaching at South Grand Prairie High School and Hillsboro, Abbott, and Frost. He was a long-time member of the Texas High School Coaches Association.

Many men owe their strength of character to Coach. To him, a sport can be intense competition but also a method of teaching life lessons.

Coach Carmichael loved his family. He is survived by his wife, Betty Jean Carmichael; children, Charles Alvin Carmichael and wife, Kathy, James Dwight Carmichael, Bobby Dodd Carmichael and wife, Sonda, and Edward Lee Donahue and wife, Margie; grandchildren, Leigh Ellen Carmichael, James Edward Donahue, Colt Lewis Carmichael and wife, Christina, Tyler Jordan Donahue, Nolan Dodd Carmichael, and Jordan Charia Colbaugh and husband, Casey; great- grandchildren, Cambree Rain Carmichael and Tyce Aron Colbaugh; and brother and sisters, Geneva Keeton, John Carmichael, and Betty DeCorcey. He was predeceased by his parents; two brothers, Loveless Carmichael and Conway Carmichael; and a sister, Martha Sparkman.

Memorial gifts may be made to Pecan Plantation VFD & EMS, 9518 Monticello Drive, Granbury, Texas 76049.

Visitation

Sunday December 9, 2012 , Noon - 1:30 p.m. at Marshall & Marshall Funeral Directors

Funeral Service

Sunday December 9, 2012 , 2:00 P.M. at Marshall & Marshall Funeral Directors

Burial

Sunday December 9, 2012 at Hillcrest Garden of Memory