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Ruth Dean Allen, born April 20, 1916 in San Antonio, TX to Benjamin Harrison Holtsclaw and Ethelyn Mae Eaton, passed away January 30, 2006. A graduate of Edison High School in 1934 and student of Westmoorland College in 1935, she dreamed of someday marrying a great man. That marriage to Frank P. Allen in 1939 lasted 62 years. Together, Frank and Ruth Allen founded Allen Electric Company in 1940, and there Ruth Allen began to fill the many roles of secretary, office manager and business partner on the one hand, and wife, homemaker and mother on the other hand, long before womens liberation made dual-career families fashionable. For Frank and Ruth, the marriage and the business were inseparable. Ruth was also a lifelong member of Trinity United Methodist Church, and she was active in Adah Chapter #49 Order of the Eastern Star, the National Association of Women in Construction, United Methodist Women, and the Council of United Methodist Churches. A fifty-year survivor of tuberculosis, Ruth had a spirit and optimism that were infectious, spilling over into the way she watched her children play sports, the way she made caramel fudge, and the way she told stories about the good old days. In addition to her husband and family, she loved traveling across America, buying paintings of Texas landscapes, working crossword puzzles, reading romance novels at the rate of a page a minute, and cheering the Dallas Cowboys. She was preceded in death by her husband and by her brother Kenneth E. Holtsclaw. She is survived by her four sons and their wives: Bill Allen and Jane, Roger Allen and Maryel, Kenneth Allen and Elyse, and Robert Allen and Lee; her nine grandchildren and five spouses: Steve Allen and Shirley, Paul Allen and Terry, Jennifer Morelock and Jesse, David Allen and Mary, Ashley Pearce and Bryan, Peter Allen, Summer Allen, Richard Allen, and Robyn Allen; her eleven great grandchildren and their two husbands: Christy Gadoci and Brandon, Melissa Prude and Micah, Dawn, Alisha, Mark, Lara, Kathryn, Jeffrey, Tricia, Kayla, and Kristopher Allen; one daughter-in-law Boni Allen; and one sister-in-law Pat Holtsclaw. The family wishes that donations in memory of Ruth Allen be made to Trinity United Methodist Church and/or the charity of your choice.VISITATION/SERVICESThe family will receive visitors on Friday, February 3, 2006 from 5:30 to 8:00 PM at Mission Park Funeral Chapels North. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, February 4, 2006 at 10:00 AM at Trinity United Methodist Church, 6800 Wurzbach Rd. with Rev. Jeanne Devine officiating. Interment will follow in Mission Burial Park South under the auspices of Adah Chapter #49 Order of the Eastern Star.

Tributes

Ruth Dean Allen

April 20, 1916 - January 30, 2006