Bob Allen

ALLEN, Bob "Shooter," and his wife Sari of Spirit Lake, Iowa, were killed in a car accident on highway 29 outside of Omaha, Wednesday, on their way home to Spirit Lake, Iowa. Monday there will be a memorial gathering at Dunn's Funeral home at 2121 Grand Avenue from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. The funeral will be Tuesday at 1 p.m. at Lutheran Church of Hope located at the corner of Jordan Creek Parkway and Ashworth in West Des Moines. Bob Allen was born in 1920 in Ft. Dodge, Iowa and lived there for most of his childhood. He loved being outdoors and bought his first BB gun with his own savings and taught himself how to shoot it in the woods behind his house. His passion for shooting became his lifelong ambition and business. He owned and operated Bob Allen Sportswear and Airline Textile in Des Moines from 1946 until he sold it in 1995. After graduating from high school and one year of junior college Allen enlisted in the Air Corps Aviation Cadet program rather than wait to be drafted. His talent as a marksman led him to become the gunnery officer for the entire B-29 20th Air Force. He was eventually sent to the island of Tinian and was flying missions as the central fire control gunner in the bubble of the plane. These missions lead up to the arrival of the 509th group commanded by Col. Paul Tibbets and the dropping of the atomic bomb by the Enola Gay.After the war Bob Allen designed a few products to sell to shooters and started traveling with a tent that he set up as a store at each location. As his shooting improved and his winnings grew he was able to keep his fledging Bob Allen Sportswear business afloat. The business eventually grew to include trap, skeet and hunting clothing. He won many trap and skeet shooting championships and awards during the years including: two world all around champion- ships, a victory with the U.S. team in the Match of Nations in Monte Carlo. He won the Grand Prix of France in 1956, 72 state championships in 17 states, four Hall of Fame designations incl uding: Trapshooting Hall of Fame, the state of Iowa, International Hall of Fame in 1970, part of the all American Trapshooting team for 11 years, and national doubles champ in 1957. Allen recently finished his autobiography titled, "Shooter", The Life and Times of Bob Allen. The Airline Textile division of the Bob Allen Companies was the brainchild of Allen's wife Ruthie that preceded him in 1996. She was a former United Airlines flight attendant and she suggested that he design and imprint a small bag with the name of the airline on it, fill it with candy and sell it to airport gift shops. That idea was embraced by several airlines and Airline Textile was licensed to print company logos on bags for distribution to the marketplace. It grew to be a large advertising specialty bag business and the product line included, golf bag covers, ski covers, travel bags, perfume promotional bags, coolers and other varied promotional products.Bob Allen served the Des Moines community and community at lar ge in many capacities. He was chairman of the Iowa Manufacturers Association, on the board of Lutheran Hospital, and manufactured a line of luggage for Duck's Unlimited that raised a significant amount of money for the organization every year. He was on the Iowa State Trapshooting Team for 13 years with fifteen wins and a record that still stands today. He won eighteen Iowa skeet shooting championships and was the only person in history to win the skeet and trap championship in the same year 1950. He was inducted to the Des Moines Register Iowa Sports, Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Iowa State Trapshooting Hall of Fame in 1970. He loved the state of Iowa and was always proud to represent the state in competition.Bob Allen died with his wife of six years, Sari, was preceded in death by his wife of 42 years, Ruthie, and is survived by his three children, Kelly Welsh of Pacific Palisades, California, Matt Allen of West Des Moines, and Abby Rice of Clive. He has eight grandchildren, Chip Welsh, Ge orge Welsh, Brooke Allen, Katie Allen, Chad Allen, Liz Rice, Trey Rice and Taylor Rice.In lieu of flowers send donations to Ducks Unlimited at: Ducks Unlimited C/o ServiceMaster 7605 University Clive, Iowa 50325