Richard (Dick) E. Allen

Friday, June 24, 2016 6:51 pm

Richard (Dick) E. Allen, 96, of Decorah, died in the early morning Saturday, May 7, 2016, at Aase Haugen Nursing Home in Decorah, surrounded by family. A memorial service is at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 25, at First United Methodist Church in Decorah with the Rev. John Caldwell officiating. Visitation begins at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 25, one hour before the service, at First United Methodist Church. Fjelstul Funeral Home in Decorah is serving the family. Online condolences may be made at fjelstul.com.

Dick was born March 9, 1920, in Chicopee, Mass., son of Edward and Mary (Gibson) Allen. He was a veteran of WWII, and served in Patton’s Third Army, from Normandy to Czechoslovakia. Following an honorable discharge, Dick attended Purdue University, earning a B.S. in physics, completing it in only three years. Dick was then hired by Corning Glass Works, in Corning, N.Y., where he worked in research and development for 30 years, gaining 23 patents, still a record number in that lab. Dick and Janet Magee, of Corning, were married April 14. 1950, and raised six daughters together. He loved to garden, take family hikes and bike rides, and was a prodigious reader as well as a lifelong learner. He was a member of Sigma Pi Sigma, the Masonic Lodge, Elks, and First United Methodist Church in Decorah.

Dick is survived by his beloved wife of 66 years, Janet (Magee) Allen; six daughters: Mary (Derek) Woollatt, of Thurston, N.Y., Margaret (David) Lewis, of Pleasant Hill, Calif., Jane (Orlando Schwartz) Allen, of Cedar Falls, Dorothy McCandless, of Lancaster, Mass., Rebecca (David) Sharman, of Avon, N.Y., and Nancy (James) Ulring, of Decorah; 13 grandchildren: Sara Everley, Reba McCutcheon, Marshall Lewis, Julia Lewis, Richard Bennett, Katy Magee, Douglas Barron, Luke Sharman, Grant Sharman, Paul Sharman, Ned Ulring, Liv Ulring, and Caleb Ulring; and two great grandchildren, Victoria Everley-Knapp, and Flynn Glanville; sisters, Eleanor Miles of Buffalo, N.Y. and Marjorie Marsh of Indianapolis, Ind.

Dick was preceded in death by his parents, Edward and Mary (Gibson) Allen; his brother, Douglas Allen; and sister, Dorothy (Allen) Johnson.