“One of the most exciting times of my life took place in 1988 when Capt. C. Flack Logan invited me down to Pensacola for an arrested landing and catapult off the Lexington,” exclaims Alvis.

Alvis was born and reared in Jackson. In his junior year Alvis dropped out of Millsaps College during the Korean War to join the Air Force, but his love of airplanes began as early as grammar school when he started building model airplanes. “Every Sunday after church my mother would drop me off at the Rexall Drug Store across from Poindexter Park, and I spent my 10 cents on a balsawood Testor plane. It took so long to glue it together that sometimes I didn’t complete it. But the next Sunday I would start another one,” Alvis recalls. When an older crowd coming back from World War II started building and flying free-flight, gas-powered airplanes, Alvis joined in, a natural step for him. “I loved to build and fly these planes.

Radio-controlled planes existed at that time but were prohibitively expensive.”

As a teenager he spent his paper route earnings on flying lessons. Alvis explains, “A half hour lesson only cost five or six dollars at that time. Then in the service and afterward with the G.I. bill, I got more training and received my pilot’s license. I held that license for 50 years and just recently had to relinquish it because of high blood pressure and its medications.”

An account executive in charge of the Jackson location of Wiley Brothers - Aintree Capital Inc., broker-dealer, dealing in underwriting and distribution of tax exempt municipal bonds, Alvis became enamored with radio-controlled airplanes in 1993, and his son, Jim Jr., whom he calls “a real natural,” joined him in his interest, along with two of his grandsons. Alvis is a member of the Mid-Mississippi Radio Control Club, a group of like-minded hobbyists. The club is affiliated with the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA), and Alvis served as its president for two years, vice president for two years, associate vice president of District 5 AMA for 10 years, and currently is administrative leader of the group. During Alvis’ administration as president, the Mid-Mississippi group was named “Club of the Year” by the AMA in District V.

“We get together and fly our planes on weekends. We have a free yearly ‘fly-in’ show, in June when we invite the public to come and see the clean and beautiful planes we have. I have dozens of these planes and gliders in my garage. They have wing spans of 36 inches to 10 feet. Some are slow flyers, some have a top speed of 85-90 m.p.h. Some jet planes fly 200 m.p.h. The real trick to flying radio-controlled planes is eye-to-thumb coordination,” says Alvis.

In years past, around the first of July, the club put on a demonstration airplane show for patients, staff and their families at the Mississippi State Hospital at Whitfield. “We set up at the bleachers, have an ice cream truck for the crowd, and have a terrific time. I don’t know who enjoys it more, them or us,” Alvis said.

“A great joy for our group is entertaining schoolchildren from Belarus, Russia, a town about 16 miles from Chernoble,” continues Alvis. “For the past few summers, Christ United Methodist Church has sponsored 30 children to visit our city. Our club has a field day for these kids who range in age from nine to 13. Assisted by retired police and firemen, we take them out to the air field, show them the planes and let them assist us in flying them. We have a hot dog and hamburger cookout. We have T-shirts made for them, have lots of snacks like ice cream and cracker jacks, and give them small gifts. One year we gave them watches, simple ones, but they were enormously proud of them. Those who need dental work or medical attention are assisted. Before the field day we canvass for donations to pay the costs, and some of our members personally underwrite certain expenditures.”

Kids clearly have a special place in Alvis’ heart, as is evidenced by the snapshots on his wall. The father of five and grandfather of six, an appeal to him on behalf of children seldom goes unacknowledged. “Two years ago a friend approached me for a donation toward a playground for the Mississippi School for the Deaf. Don Stringer from the retired policemen’s organization, Pam Hegwood, a school volunteer, and I got involved, and we raised a considerable amount of money, along with contributions from businesses such as Home Depot and Sprint. With the help of volunteers like retired firemen and policemen, Home Depot employees, students and employees of the school, and other good-hearted people from all over the city of Jackson, we built not one but two playgrounds in one day of work,” boasts Alvis. “Once the word got out, a band came and played while we worked, churchwomen brought food, and it turned into a great work day.” That was just the beginning of his involvement with the school.

“When I learned that the school’s football team had been national champions for four years in a row, something that had not been celebrated by our city, I knew I had to do something,” Alvis says. He, Hegwood and Stringer put their heads together and decided to raise money to purchase 31 championship rings for the coach, trainers and players at a cost of $150 each. “I contacted Jimmie McDowell who agreed to bring the matter before the Jackson Touchdown Club. That group really went to work to recognize these kids. They donated money for seven of the rings and invited the boys to Vicksburg as their guests at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame banquet. There they were acknowledged and given a standing ovation. It was very moving.”

A few weeks later, the Mississippi School for the Deaf honored the group at a ceremony in the school’s auditorium where they were presented their championship rings by Deuce McAllister. Local restaurants furnished food for the reception following, and Billy Beard, acting on behalf of the Jackson Touchdown Club, donated to the school a plaque of “Mule” Monahan, the only player from the Mississippi School for the Deaf named to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.

At present Alvis, Hegwood and friends are working to get money to put the football team on a charter bus to travel to their games. “They play their games out-of-state and sometimes travel overnight in a school bus,” says Alvis. “Our efforts to get a workout room built fell through, but I am not discouraged. I’ll stay interested in this project.”

Pam Hegwood, who has worked with him on several projects, declares, “I can’t say enough about Jim Alvis. He is the most outstanding, kind-hearted gentleman I have ever had the privilege of knowing. If he realizes there is a need, especially where children are involved, he is all over it. He truly has a generous, giving heart.”