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<p>The Long Gray Line of deceased West Point graduates includes Eisenhower, Patton, MacArthur, and now Lieutenant Colonel <em>Arthur LaVon Mavis Jr.</em> (USAF, Retired), West Point Class of 1953. </p>
<p>A 20-year U.S. Air Force flight commander, Arthur piloted Air Force One for President Lyndon Johnson to destinations far and wide. He also flew wounded battlefield soldiers to hospitals as a Vietnam medivac pilot while flying C-123 aircraft.</p>
<p>After his graduation, Arthur met Maryann on a blind date in Defiance, OH, proposed six days later, and six months later, started a marriage that lasted 66 years, producing five beautiful children.</p>
<p>His military tours included assignments in Japan; Vietnam; Washington, DC; Baghdad; Tehran; and Ankara, Turkey. His last military assignment was at The Citadel in Charleston, SC. On weekends, Arthur took his family to The Citadel to watch the parades and to attend the Saturday night football games.</p>
<p>In Vietnam, he piloted medivac missions utilizing a C-123, and all he would say about it was, “I flew guns, food and ammo in, and bodies out.” </p>
<p>A rare surprise in 1996 was Arthur revealed he flew C-123 supply and medivac missions out of the most bombed airstrip in the world, Khe Sanh. </p>
<p>Arthur was an Air Force attaché to the U.S. Embassy and Maryann worked the parties with him. As revealed by Arthur’s son, Neil, in his eulogy to his mom: “Just like in The Spy Who Loved Me, my mom was really a spy.” When Maryann walked into a room, everyone would stop and stare at her like a movie star, and the intelligence officers in the room would use her distraction to make their “drops.” The family of Arthur and Maryann remember how this couple fit the lyrics to the song, “The Spy Who Loved Me” (modified by their children):</p>
<p><em>Nobody does it better</em><br /><em>Makes me feel sad for the rest</em><br /><em>Nobody does it half as good as you,</em><br /><em>“Mom and Dad,” you’re the best.</em><br /><em>I wasn’t lookin’ but somehow you found me</em><br /><em>I tried to hide from your love light</em><br /><em>But like heaven above me</em><br /><em>The spies who loved me, “Mom and Dad,”</em><br /><em>Is keepin’ all our countries secrets safe tonight.</em><br /><em>Why’d you have to be so good?</em><br /><em>“With five kids, and a military ‘wifestyle,’</em><br /><em>Mom, how’d you learn to do the things you do?”</em></p>
<p>They were in Bagdad only a month when the Six-Day War started. Art came home and told Maryann to evacuate the family, lose everything they owned, pack one suitcase, and immediately take the family to the U.S. Embassy to take a bus to unknown. Three kids sat on the suitcase to help her close it, and Maryann snuck three pillows on the bus for the long ride over bumpy dirt roads, ending up in Tehran.</p>
<p>Every time Arthur’s son asked what Art did for the USAF, Art always responded “answered a phone.” Neil later learned from his Mom that Dad was likely a spy, but the only secret Arthur revealed was the color of the phone he answered (Neil promised not to tell).</p>
<p>Art retired in 1973 and due to the winding down of the Vietnam War, resulting in a flood of pilots into the market, could not get a job with the airlines, even with his designation as an Air Force One pilot. He used the GI Bill to get an MBA and a master’s degree in insurance. He then taught insurance classes for over 15 years.</p>
<p>The “big secret” at the insurance company was Art bailed drunk student employees out of jail and helped them save their careers. Out of town employees who were students would party too much at night and get a DUI. They would call him to get bailed out and not get fired. Many of the DUIs that Art bailed out straightened up and stayed with the insurance company and made it a long, successful career thanks to Art’s discipline. </p>
<p>Mom and Dad retired a second time and spent the next 20 years helping build over 400 homes for Habitat for Humanity (HFH). They wintered in Vero Beach, FL, then helped at builds while chasing springtime north to Michigan and Wisconsin and chasing winter south through Oklahoma while driving a huge motorhome, complete with slide outs, and towing a minivan full of cordless power tools. At HFH build sites, Dad would place over $3,500 worth of expensive cordless tool kits in a row and loan out every expensive tool. In 20 years, nothing was ever stolen.</p>
<p>As their health declined, they downsized from the motor home to a van, then to a minivan, and finally to where they had to make the call that they made their last HFH build. </p>
<p>After over 60 years of marriage, Dad had to put Mom in nursing home in 2016 and would visit her three times a day to feed her. His health eventually declined to where he had to join her in the nursing home, and he continued to feed her at every mealtime, until she passed away on September 14, 2019 after 66 years of marriage.</p>
<p>On Friday, August 28, 2020, the Long Gray Line of distinguished deceased West Point graduates stood aside to welcome the most distinguished, newest member, and best Daddy in the world, Arthur Mavis, Class of 1953, Cadet Company F-1.</p>
<p><em>— Neil Mavis, son</em></p>
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