Alvin Hilbig
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Alvin Hilbig

by Mary Ann Hilbig Lavin

Alvin & Herbert Hilbig Alvin Hilbig turned 80 on June 9, 2000 and his daughter Mary Ann Hilbig Lavin wrote this tribute to her father and submitted it for publication in the San Antonio "Southside Reporter" Newspaper. It was published on June 22, 2000.


Lifelong south side (San Antonio) resident Alvin Hilbig will celebrate his 80th birthday with family and friends on Saturday, June 24th. He was born June 9, 1920 at the home of his mother and father, Mary Stall Hilbig and Bruno Hilbig, at South Gevers and Aransas in San Antonio.

Around the same time as Alvin�s birth, Bruno moved the family "out to the country" to a small farm off Rigsby in back of what is now Comanche Park. The family lived in a windowless shack without running water. The following year the Hilbig family�s corn crop was devastated by the terrible flood that crested 12 feet high downtown and killed 50 people.

Alvin remembers his father also growing cotton on this small farm, and of helping to pick the cotton from the time he was six years old. By the time Alvin started first grade at St. Gerard�s the family had moved to land off Rice Road near Salado Creek, and this was where Alvin first recalls learning what would become a lifelong love, how to fish.

By the time he was 10 years old Alvin was a regular fishing on "the Slough" as Salado Creek was often called. He and some young friends would often camp out overnight along the banks of the creek, building a fire to keep snakes away, "skinny-dippin" in the water, eating pork and beans and fresh caught perch for dinner and sleeping on the ground under the stars. Alvin�s been "hooked" on fishing ever since and for more than 70 years now!

Alvin also fondly recalls family trips back to Bastrop County to visit the Hilbig family members who had stayed there. It was a long, arduous trip in the family Model A roadster, and they only averaged about 15 miles per hour along the muddy, rutted roads. Alvin�s favorite part of these trips were visits to the store owned by his grandfather, William Hilbig, where he would get free candy. Back then, the little town was called "Hilbigville", but the name was changed to Rockne in 1931.

The 1930�s was the height of the Great Depression and, like so many families, Alvin�s parents had a difficult time making ends meet. The older boys had to go to work to help support the family, and by age 12 or 13 Alvin was working, his first job being a paper route on the east end of town. In 1934 at the age of only 14 Alvin got his Texas drivers license and began helping his older brothers run an ice route the family operated. Later Alvin got a larger paper route downtown, driving his father�s little Austin car to deliver the papers.

During his teen years Alvin also showed great promise as a baseball player. He became good enough an outfielder that he was invited to tryout for a minor league professional team in Long Beach, California, but with the Depression in full swing Alvin needed to stay at home to help support the family.

In the late thirties and just prior to World War II, Alvin took jobs first at Patterson�s Red & White Grocery Store, then later at NBC Biscuit Company. At the grocery store he was a delivery boy, and at the biscuit company he worked in the manufacturing plant. But as with millions of young men, World War II interrupted his plans.

Soon after the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Alvin enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps, the first of his six brothers to join up. After basic training Alvin was shipped to a combat unit, sailing from New York on the Queen Mary, which had been converted to a troop ship, for initial duty in England. In less than two months, however, Alvin was on his way to Oran, on the coast of French North Africa, from where they marched 10 miles to Algiers.

Alvin was assigned to the 12th Fighter Command, later re-designated the 22nd Tactical Air Command. During his time in North Africa he participated in "Operation Torch" followed by Tunisian Campaign, both Allied victories which eventually pushed the Germans out of North Africa. In 1944 Alvin and his unit landed in Italy where he participated in the Battle of Rome-Arno which resulted in the Allied capture of Rome from the Nazis.

While he was stationed in northern Italy, Alvin very nearly got shot when a German fighter pilot nicknamed "Chow-Time Charlie" strafed the unit�s camp, pumping machine gun bullets into the ground and a tree right next to his tent. As the war in Europe was drawing to a close and because he had earned enough combat theater points, in February 1945 Alvin was rotated back to the United States for possible Pacific duty, receiving several decorations for his combat duty in the North African and Italian theaters of operation.

Shortly after his discharge from the Army, Alvin was offered a job at the then relatively new Lone Star Brewery on Roosevelt Avenue. Thus began a 38 year career for Alvin from which he retired at age 62 on December 31, 1982.

Although he�d known her before the war, Alvin only began courting his future wife, Mary Cecilia Dunk, in early 1948. They dated for six years, frequently double-dating at dances and fishing trips with Alvin�s brother Emil and his wife, Annie.

After dating for six years the couple was married at St. Gerard�s Catholic Church in June 1953, honeymooning in New Orleans and settling into their first home on Maurine Drive. In 1961 they lost this home to the construction of Interstate Highway 37 near McCreless Mall.

Alvin�s marriage to "Cely" produced four children, Mary Ann, Thomas, Edward and Diane. Alvin also has four grandchildren, Tiffany, John Jr. and Ryan by their daughter Diane, and Gabriel by their son Thomas. They were married more than 40 years before death took Alvin�s beloved wife in 1994.

In his retirement years Alvin has become quite the gardener, developing a special expertise with pecan trees, but his first love remains fishing. He spends a lot of time these days at Lake Corpus Christi in the community of Lagarto near Mathis, Texas, fishing for catfish, crappie and perch.

Alvin's 80th Birthday

Alvin is as well know and liked in that community as he is in his southeast side San Antonio neighborhood, and on Lake Corpus Christi he�s built quite a reputation as an excellent fisherman. In fact, it is said that the local fish race each other to see who can be the first to get on Alvin�s fish hook!

Alvin�s children, their spouses, his grandchildren and his large family and numerous friends all join in wishing him a Happy 80th Birthday and many more to come. We love you Alvin.


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Alvin Hilbig
June 9, 1920  •  January 31, 2006