Dan Allen

1932 - 2025

Dan Allen

New London, NH - Dan H. Allen, 93, a resident of New London since 1957, died Friday, October 3, 2025. Born at what is now the Newton-Wellesley, MA, Hospital on May 1, 1932, son of Herbert A. Allen and Alma (Hietala) Allen (first generation Finnish-American).

He married Joan (Lukie) Sternkopf, div., no children; Sara (Sally) Scudder, div., three children: Timothy Allen now of Hillsborough, NH, m. Wendy Thorpe, div., one child: Bennett Allen; Diana StarDragon now of South Saint Paul, MN, m. Roger Clay, div., two children: Keegan Clay and Kaycie Clay; Eric Allen now of Andover, NH, m. Penney Cassidy, who had two previous children, Cindy Langdon and John Brigmon (Dan's grandchildren-by-marriage); and Natalie Vernon Davis, no children. Dan was pre-deceased by all three of his wives, as well as his grandchild Kaycie Clay.

Dan graduated in the class of 1950 from Keene (NH) High School. He graduated from M.I.T. in 1955 with a degree in Architecture. He spent two years in the Army, became a helicopter mechanic and was stationed in Berlin, Germany. He earned three Master's Degrees to match three different jobs: Harvard, Education; UNH, Physics; and Northeastern U., Environmental Engineering. He taught at Proctor Academy and New England College. His last job was at NH's Department of Environmental Services, where he earned a P.E. license. He's been retired since Jan. 1, 1990.

Dan built his own home with barn timbered ceilings, field stone foundation, and stone veneer in front. He moved one of Lloyd Littlefield's two barns, with 32 foot timbers, disassembled, across town, behind a VW bug. The barn raising and roofing were the following year, 1967.

Dan served terms on the town's Conservation Commission, Municipal Budget Committee, and School Board. For the first three years of the Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway, Dan served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors. He, Bill Best and Dick Martin made the first "walkabout" of the 75-mile Greenway in 1994 in four successive days of drizzle. Others joined for parts of the journey.

Nat and Dan met as instructors in the Appalachian Mountain Club's annual Winter School. Dan was with Nat when she made her last ascent of NH's 4000 foot peaks in calendar winter. Dan had climbed all 49 peaks in winter two and a half times and sought a greater stunt. In February 1990, he began hiking the Appalachian Trail, in sections from North to South, during calendar winters. He spent 10 winters doing it, finishing on March 10, 2001. We believe he was the first one to do it. You may want to read his book, "Don't Die On The Mountain", Diapensia Press, 1998. Try InterLibrary Loan.

At age 67 he joined three younger folks on a climb of Mt. Denali. He made it to the high camp.

Dan enjoyed writing poetry as a member of The Poetry Posse and the John Hay Poetry Society. He relished disparate topics of his choosing.

He served for about five years each as the unassociated member of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees of Dartmouth and the VA Hospital in White River Junction.

Among many other sailing adventures, Nat, Dan, Tim, and his friend Harold, sailed their 36' Cape Dory cutter to Newfoundland in 2003 and visited three "outports", coastal villages not accessible by road. They returned by way of the Bras d'Or Lakes.

There will be a service and memorial gathering on Saturday, October 25, 11:00 am, at the New London Historical Society. In lieu of flowers, please consider volunteering to serve your local community in some capacity, or contributing to the Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway Coalition (srkg.org).

To sign an online guestbook please visit www.chadwickfuneralservice.com.