The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-05-27
UNTIMELY DEMISE
 OF PATTY ALLISON
 IS BLOW TO MANY
Talented Player Much Beloved Succumbs to PrOtracted Ill.,
 ness in Long Hill
Former Member of POIi Stock Organizations in Private Life Was Mrs. Edward
 RentOn

Patty Allison, beloved by theatre
 goers from coast to coast for her low
 able characterizations of ingenue
 types. and particularly cherished by
 the Bridgeport people who were privi- legged to enjoy personal acquaintance
 with her, died yesterday at her home
 in Long Hill. In private life Miss Al
 lison was Mrs. Edward Benton, wife 1 of s. z. Polis general representative.
 Her death followed a protracted illness 1 through which she displayed amazing | fortitude and cheerfulness. She was
 but B years of age.
 Patty Booth Allison was a native of l Knoxville, Tenn, one of three daugh- ters of Captain and Mrs. Alexander Allison She came of distinguished
 southern lineage, and was reared in
 the refinement and culture of home rich in southern traditions. Her early education was obtained in Knoxville Ambition to become a. teacher led her
 to complete her training for this work | in a seminary in Cincinnati, O., and
 for several years, she pursued this line Of endeavor
 Richly endowed as an elocutionist, she displayed such talent that she re- ceived many tempting offers Tor Iec- ture tours and the like, and eventually accepted an engagement with the late Governor Bob" Taylor accompanying l him in his lecture engagements as a
 dramatic reader.
 This was but a stepping stone to professional honers A deep student of human nature and a lover of childish 1 types she soon became recognized as 1 among the foremost players in this field of h1strionic endeavor. Bridge port playgoers recall with delight Patty Allison in the role originally played by Millie James in Lovers Lane,'' the roguish. laughing young ster up the apple tree, perfect child | type.
 This was but one of hundreds of roles which Miss Allison successfully filled during her many stock and road
 enga gements. She met with especial | tion of 'aThe College Widow, playing
 a country wide tour in the exacting part of Flora Wiggins.''
 Miss Allison first became known to
 Bridgeport pIaygoers when the PoH
 stock season opened in 1910. She be-
 came an Instantaneous favorfte. and as the season advanced her admirers grew by the Hundreds. It was mat | fer of regret that she did not return
 to Bridgeport the next season, accept l ing an engagement in Portland most ] of that summer and playing a brief
 engagement at the close of the sea
 son with the PoH players in Hartford So successful was her limited en-
 gagament in Hartford that she return i ed there for the entire season of 1912, | where she renamed unbl1 Ille sedS5OAA tclosed. Just before the end of the lseason she quietly married Edward
 Renton, and with the termination of I the stock engagement at Hartford, re- | tired from professional life.
 Late in the winter Miss Allison was 1 obliged to submit to a severe opera 1 tion at the Bridgeport hospital, per I formed by Drs. w. F. Verdi of New Haven and C. c. Godfrey of this city. | Always frail, she rallied surprisingly, | but not for long. A few weeks ago she entered a New Haven hospital to prepare for a, second operation, cornpl1- | tions having arisen. A consultation of specialists was held with the result 1 that plans for the operation were abandoned and, at her own request, she returned to the beautiful summer | home of MT Benton, "AtEasta Farm 1 It was known that her end was but a ma tier of time, and her raIniIy was summoned from the South Almost to | the end she was hopeful, refusing to allow her aff1iction to depress her | faithful family circle, whose efforts Tor
 her comfort were measured only by
 the limit of human ability.
 | Miss Allison possessed wonderfa al personal charm In professional en- deavor this had endeared her to thou sands Of hearts from coast to coast t In private life she had the same low ling personality that so readily moved | to laughter and to tears those Who
 enjoyed her art, and who cannot soon
 forget the personalities that she oe- picted She was a. loving, fond, wife and devoted and loyal friend, with heart and brain infinitely larger than the little body that contained them
 She is survived by her husband, her parents, and two sisters, Mrs Cuyrer KimbalI and Miss Bessie Allison of
 Knoxville.