Richard Savage Allen

1917 - 2014

Allen, Richard Savage SAN DIEGO -- Richard Savage Allen, son of Percy Melville "Dick" Allen and Catherine Dorothy Savage Allen, born in Detroit, Michigan, April 25, 1917, went home to Heaven on June 20, 2014, in San Diego, California. His second child, Dorothy Mary Allen Shoopman, was at his side as he passed on. His third child, Catherine Elizabeth Allen, had visited him that morning. Dick was in declining health since January 2011, when he fell and broke his hip at home. After surgery and rehab, he was able to return home. For his last two years, he lived with round-the-clock "helpers" until January 2014, when he was in an automobile accident, spending his last 4 1/2 months in nursing facilities. Raised in and around Detroit, Mr. Allen graduated from Alexander Hamilton College in upstate New York, in 1939, the same college from which his father and younger brother graduated, and all belonged to the same fraternity, Sigma Phi. It was a happy part of Dick's life, with him continuing to attend reuinons periodically and support the College till the present. Dick learned to fly in open-cockpit planes and bi-planes (double wings). He took his wife-to-be, Dorothy Cox Allen, up in one, and did a loop-the-loop; she married him anyway! When WW II started, he joined the Navy, learned to fly "The Navy Way," and became a Naval Aviator. His duty was ferrying planes to the West Coast from the factories in the East for the duration. Their first child, Richard Cox Allen, was born in New York. Dicky passed away in 2007, and is survived by 3 children and 5 grandchildren. Dick and Dorothy moved to San Diego because of the weather. Their second child, Dorry, was born approximately two weeks after their long road trip to San Diego. Dorry has five children and 12 grandchildren. Dick began working at the San Diego Gas & Electric Company about 1947, and retired in 1978. He was retired for longer than he worked there! He also retired from the Naval Reserve. His other children, Cathy, followed by Patrick Michael Allen, and Philip Andrew Allen, were all born in San Diego. Pat and his wife, Lezlie, have one daughter, Annabelle, 14, who was a late-in-life delight to her Grampa. Dick and Dorothy were committed Catholics, sent all five children to Catholic School, for a total of 60 years of Catholic Education. Both were excellent examples of living a Christian Life. They became "Pillars of the Parish" at Our Lady of Angels Church in Golden Hill. Dick served as organist for almost 50 years, decling a salary immediately upon starting that ministry, around 1957. He also served as the first President of the Parish Council, around 1967. He was commissioned as a Special Minister of Holy Communion at about the same time, taking the Eucharist to the sick every Sunday, after playing the organ for Mass. He was a member of other committees in the Parish, and a founding Member of the "Prayer Warriors," a multi-parish group that prays the Rosary together, for over 25 years now. Dick was a "Renaissance Man," interested in anything and everything. In addition to his service to the Church, he was a Toastmaster for decades, and loved to tell a good story. He was an amateur movie-maker, taking home movies of all family events for decades. He was a member of the San Diego Amateur Movie-Makers Club, after his retirement. He was a life-long amateur genealogist, a life-member member of the Mayflower Society, and was among the founding members of the San Diego Computer Genealogy Society. When home-computing became possible, he bought a computer and taught himself to use it, mainly to record his vast family genealogy records. His work is a record to his whole family of at least 19 generations of family ancestors in America. Dick Allen was a kind, considerate, generous, and genial man. People liked and respected him as the Christian gentleman that he was; an outstanding example of his generation, the "Greatest Generation." We thank God for his life, and look forward to reuniting in Heaven.