Nigel John Roger Allan

Nigel John Roger Allan, born August 3, 1938, in Edinburgh, Scotland, completed his life's journey on November 25, 2024. He died peacefully in Lexington, Kentucky, in the company of his wife Charlayne, and his daughter, Melanie Zharmina (Allan) McCarty.
He lived, as he always desired, the life of his choice. That life included leaving school in Scotland at age 14, working as a shepherd and dairyman for several years before becoming a British Royal Marines Commando and serving in Malta and Cyprus. Having tasted adventure, he emigrated to the US in 1959 where he worked in a turkey hatchery in a small town in Virginia until friends encouraged him to consider college. Berea College in Kentucky welcomed a young man with a Scottish brogue who could play rugby and soccer but most importantly one who was eager to learn and explore everything in this new world. As a freshman at Berea, having read of the famous Kentucky Derby, he hitch-hiked to Louisville to see the spectacle, placing a small bet on a horse that stalled at the gate. That would be his short-lived venture into gambling. At Berea, however, he would recall that he chose a winner in finding the woman who would be his wife of 59 years. They spent their first year of married life in India where Nigel earned a master's degree in International Public Administration from Syracuse University. There followed a Ph.D. in Geography from Syracuse, a year of field work in Afghanistan that included the birth of daughter Melanie, teaching cultural geography at LSU, and concluding his teaching career at the University of California at Davis. Nigel's true love in academia and life was mountain geography and that passion led to more than three decades of summer research in the high mountains of Asia, the Himalayas and Hindu Kush. His published work included books, articles, reviews, and encyclopedia entries. He loved field work and described himself as a 'dirty boots geographer,' one who took the path less traveled in the mountains of Pakistan, Nepal, Tibet, India and China.
He was a charismatic teacher who inspired students with his learning and tales of discovery, coupled with his wit and distinctive accent. Nigel's academic legacy lives on, both at University of California, Berkeley where his professional library of books and maps resides, and with his former graduate and Ph.D. students living all over the world for whom he was their trusted advisor and mentor. Although Nigel traversed the globe to exotic locales for his professional pursuits, he believed that adventure is around every corner, wherever one might be. He treasured national parks and visited them in every state and in Canada, hiking, camping, and eagerly spotting wildlife.
Nigel was an athlete and outdoorsman. He kayaked lakes and rivers, orienteered in wild terrain throughout New York, New England, and his home country Scotland, and cycled hills and winding river roads. He fished from Alaska down through Nevada and Texas, hunted javelina in Arizona, and deer in the Ruby Mountains of Nevada. Nigel first put on skis as a soldier in the snowy mountains of Cyprus, and his passion for cross-country skiing spanned his entire life. He skied countless trails and competed in races throughout North America, even while living in snow-free Louisiana. In preparation for the famous Birkebeiner in Wisconsin, Nigel donned roller skis to traverse Baton Rouge roads and sidewalks, attracting the attention of the local TV sportscaster who was eager to film the unusual skier on 'skates.' The organizers of the race were hard-pressed to procure the state flag to acknowledge a rarity, the only competitor from the southern state. In Syracuse he designed courses for the first cross country ski center at Drumlins Country Club, and taught lessons with the Bill Koch Youth Ski League. Decades later Nigel returned to this role, working with young people at the Auburn Ski Club in the Sierra teaching them ski orienteering and setting up biathlon practice areas. His lifelong friendships with John Skopek and Doug Garfield from Syracuse days enhanced his love for skiing and physical fitness into his eighties.
Nigel saw the world and the people in it as a wondrous place. He actively engaged with others, picking up on an accent, mannerism, or physical characteristic and starting a friendly conversation to learn where they were from and how they came to be where they were. Often a stranger or student would name a relatively obscure town or region in a remote country and be astonished when Nigel not only knew where it was but was knowledgeable of the culture and traditions of the region and could have a lively conversation. Melanie delighted in a lifelong game that started at a very young age with her dad, when he would have her thoughtfully survey her surroundings and the people she saw to ponder where they might be from and then detail for him which clues led to her conclusions. Nigel's knowledge of the world and its geography exemplified the innate human need to validate origins and homeplaces.
Nigel will be missed greatly by former students, colleagues, and friends but also most poignantly by family: Jackie and David Stewart, his sister and brother-in-law in Scotland, and here in America by his son-in-law Timm McCarty, sisters and brothers-in-law from Charlayne's Stewart clan in the US, and his many nephews and nieces in both countries, chief among them the forever joyful Emily Johnson. In recognition of Emily's devotion to her beloved "Uncle", as she simply called him, those wishing to honor Nigel's legacy are invited to contribute to the Down Syndrome Association of Central Kentucky (DSACK), a nonprofit that has greatly enriched not only Emily's life but that of many families in Kentucky.