TITLE: In memory of Ivan Eugene Allen.

SUMMARY: In memory of Ivan Eugene Allen.

FULL TEXT:
WHEREAS, The loss of retired pastor Ivan Eugene Allen of Lake Jackson on May 21, 2012, is keenly felt by the many people whose lives he forever enriched; and WHEREAS, Born to Ivan and Aletta Allen on a family farm near Booker on September 25, 1922, Ivan Allen graduated from Booker High School in 1940; he then enrolled at Texas Technological College in Lubbock and became a member of the U.S. Army Reserve Officer Training Corps; in 1942, he joined the Army Reserve, and he served on active duty in the army for two years; and WHEREAS, Following his military service, Mr. Allen returned to operate the family farm, where he grew wheat and corn, raised chickens, and ran a small dairy; he joined the Methodist church in Booker, where he met his future wife, Helen Ball; married in 1945, the couple went on to spend nearly six decades together and were blessed with three children, Leta, Charles, and Roger; and WHEREAS, Mr. Allen answered the call to enter the ministry, and in 1960, he received his first appointment within the Methodist Church, moving with his family to Morse; in addition to serving the congregation, he earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics at Panhandle A&M College in Oklahoma in 1962; he was ordained a deacon that same year and later became an elder in the Northwest Texas Conference of the Methodist Church; and WHEREAS, Over the next three decades, Pastor Allen served congregations in Morse, Childress, New Deal, Sunray, Stinnett, Sweetwater, Munday, and White Deer, and for a dozen years he served as statistician with the church's Northwest Texas conference; retiring in 1988, he moved with his wife to Childress, where he remained active in the church and served as a hospice chaplain at Childress Regional Medical Center; a valued member of the Childress community for more than two decades, he moved to Lake Jackson in 2009 to be closer to family; and WHEREAS, Pastor Ivan Allen lived a caring and purposeful life, and though his death has brought great sorrow to all who knew him, he leaves behind a legacy of good works that will long resonate in the communities in which he served; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 83rd Texas Legislature, 1st Called Session, hereby pay tribute to the memory of Ivan Eugene Allen and extend sincere sympathy to the members of his family: to his children, Leta Ruth Loyd and her husband, Roger, Charles Roy Allen and his wife, Sanjuana, and Roger Keith Allen and his wife, Neeta; to his brother, R. D. Allen, and his wife, Jane; to his sisters, Mamie Agler, Effie Townsend, and Dorothy Tate; to his sister-in-law, Dorothy Allen; to his seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren; and to his other relatives and friends; and, be it further RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be prepared for his family and that when the Texas House of Representatives adjourns this day, it do so in memory of Ivan Allen. King of Hemphill Speaker of the House I certify that H.R. No. 178 was unanimously adopted by a rising vote of the House on June 25, 2013. Chief Clerk of the House