Alva Earley 1941-2024 In Memoriam

Written by Lowell Peterson, John Sauter, Owen Muelder, Jimmie Carr, and Otis Cowan

Alva Earley died during the summer of 2024 in LaJunta, Colorado. He lived alone. Apparently someone noticed that he had not been seen for some time. The police discovered his body in his home on August 8, 2024.

At the 50^th reunion for the Knox College class of 1963, John Sauter helped arrange a reunion for the townies (members of the class who were from Galesburg, IL). Alva Earley, John Sauter, Owen Muelder, and Lowell Peterson were among the attendees. Alva mentioned to some of us that he never graduated from Galesburg High School or got a diploma and told us some of the story of how he was discriminated against. When Lowell got back to Ohio he saw on TV a story about young men who enlisted in WWII before they graduated and were then getting their diplomas decades later. Lowell was upset about Alva being denied his chance to graduate and get his diploma, and he called up Owen Muelder. Owen did not hear Alva's story at the townie reunion but he too was upset. Owen has an office at Knox and is helping preserve the history of the Underground Railroad in Galesburg. His father, Dr. Herman Muelder, was Dean of Knox and an expert on the Antislavery Movement. Owen agreed that something should be done to get Alva his diploma. He did the local legwork, contacting the school board and others, keeping Lowell informed. During the GHS  class of 1959 55^th reunion,  a special ceremony was held in the meeting room of the local school board and Dr. Neal Sappington, the superintendent of District 205, gave Alva his diploma. Years before this, Alva was awarded two doctorate degrees even though he had not graduated from high school. At the school board presentation, Alva wore his doctorate robe with the stripes on the sleeves.

Alva was having difficulties even before he was born. His father, Rollie Earley, was in the Army Air Corps and was assigned duty in Europe in 1939. Alva was born June 9, 1941 and his “father” did some simple arithmetic and realized he was not Alva's real father. Rollie did not disown the little boy, but apparently was cruel to him.

In high school, Alva was one of brightest students in the very bright class of 1959 and had a very high ACT or SAT score. At that time, Galesburg had a very nice public park called Lake Storey. (Lowell's mother, Elizabeth Granville Peterson, remembered seeing steam shovels digging out the lake to provide water for the railroad steam engines. She was born in 1906.) There was a problem with the park. It was segregated. The north side was the white side and across the lake was the black side. The north side had a large sand swimming beach, diving boards, two fine ball fields, a large playground, picnic areas, and a large building for restrooms, 2 large changing rooms, and activity space. The black side was smaller and accounts of the south side vary. It had a swimming area with low and high diving boards on a raft and it may have had a small beach. There was a quite small brick building. A record player was there and there would be some dancing. The south park did not have picnic tables and if it had a playground, it was small. Otis Cowan relates that right field on the ballfield had a pronounced downward slope. A ground ball hit that direction could become a home run. The park did attract blacks from towns and cities from as far away as Peoria and sometimes they brought black ball teams. Perhaps they didn't have a park for blacks in their town.

There was a third part of the park complex that was separated from the other two parks. Otis said it was integrated and was large enough that groups could come but have little interaction with other groups. This area was fittingly named Lincoln Park. It did not have swimming or all the facilities of the white side. Rt. 150 separated Lincoln Park from Lake Storey.

The local NAACP planned a picnic on the white side of Lake Storey as a protest against the separate but not equal facilities. A lady from Alva's church taught him how to prepare baked beans for the event. Alva was very proud about this. Perhaps he bragged too much. Soon a school counsellor stopped him in a hallway and told him “Boy, if you take beans to that picnic, you will not graduate from high school or go to college.” Later, when the seniors were being measured for robes and hats, Alva was not called to have this done. He asked about this. The teacher checked the list and told him he was not graduating. He was one of the top students in his class.

Alva applied to colleges all over the country, including schools that required much lower SAT or ACT scores than his. He kept being turned down. His high school (counselor) was not recommending him. He was ready to join the Air Force when Dr. Sharvey Umbeck, the President of Knox College, called Alva and invited him to his office. When Alva came into his office, there was Dr. Umbeck and the leaders of the college. Dr. Umbeck told Alva that he was the kind of student we want at Knox.

Alva attended Knox for two years until he transferred to the University of Illinois. The U of I had better equipment than Knox had for some research he was doing. While at Knox, he was on the wrestling team. He was into weight lifting. When he came to the U of I, he joined its wrestling team. He was a fine wrestler. John Sauter was a lifelong friend of Alva since early in grade school. John told Alva that he had wrestled Gary Fleming once and lost. Alva told John that he too had wrestled Gary and won. Gary was a star running back on the football team.

While at Knox, he lived at home until he was kicked out of the house. For a time, he slept on the floor of the Knox bookstore. Dr. Umbeck found him a room.

John Sauter reports that at Weston Grade School, the teachers found Alva was a good singer and had him sing for the classes. In high school, he was in the Harmoneers choir. Later, after he had moved to Chicago he became active in various opera groups. He had a very fine bass voice and performed in operas. The Chicago Lyric Opera arranged for him to sing in school assemblies as part of its outreach program. He sang with Mahalia Jackson, William Warfield, and other prominent singers. He sang with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as a guest soloist. In his late 70's, he sang a short excerpt of an opera solo for  me and 2 guests. He was still great! Over the years, he sang in various churches including the 83^rd St. Baptist Church in Chicago where he was also an assistant pastor. Alva made friends with members of a small Russian Episcopal or Orthodox group in Evanston, IL He often sang at monthly concerts that they sponsored. They awarded him an honorary Doctor of Theology degree.

When Alva was a young adult, he raced motorcycles. He was the first black person to race at the level he achieved. He preferred Italian cycles and had some successes with them. He enjoyed doing mechanical work on them. One of his competitors would not let anyone else work on his cycle except Alva.

For 10 years, Alva worked as a tech for the Illinois State Psychiatric Institute. He went to Kent Law School in Chicago and enrolled in an honors program where he earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence Degree. He then worked for the Attorney General of Illinois for 16 years in the division on employment security. In this position, he was once nominated for the employee of the month.

After he retired, Alva moved to LaJunta, CO and bought an apartment building in Raton, NM. He left the Chicago area partly because a corrupt cop was repeatedly writing up false parking tickets on him and he had no recourse. The move west was a mistake, he met racism in many ways. He was repeatedly turned down by doctors, dentists, and lawyers when he sought their services. He was ripped off by contractors. Renters intentionally damaged his apartment building. He did find a church in Raton that he enjoyed and he was able to sing for them on occasion. Since he was a child, he hated being mistreated, cheated, and lied to. John Sauter believes that Alva never lied to him.

Lowell kept in touch with Alva every few months but he had a very busy fall. He tried to call in early January, 2025. When he could not get thru, he called the LaJunta police to ask them to make a welfare check on Alva. The officer who answered the phone had checked on Alva on August 8, 2024 and found him dead. He lived alone and did not have a close family. He had an older step brother, Rollie Jr., who lived in Florida in 2008, and a step sister who lived “out east” in 2024 but Alva did not talk about them. Alva married once but his mother-in-law kept insisting that he was not “good enough” for her daughter. They divorced. But Alva did still keep his sense of humor.