Alan Edward Allen was born in Dallas Texas on March 22, 1948 to Louie and Bernice Allen. He joined his older siblings Bobby D. and Melinda to complete the family. Originally, his parents intended on naming the baby "Melody Diane" and were somewhat unprepared when they had a boy, so they scrambled for an appropriate name, and decided on one that has been at times confusing to others. When meeting him for the first time, he was apt to say "I am Alan Allen from Allen Texas and I sell Allen wrenches". As a child, his Dad called him "Stub" which was a reflection of his preference of a flat top haircut, the style of choice for boys growing up in the 1950's, although he outgrew the nickname about the same time he changed his hair length. Alan attended Richardson schools until high school when he transferred to Greenhill Preparatory where he lettered for two years in Varsity Football. As a teenager, he drove his nephew Tommy and nieces Robin and Melody to Richardson Heights Baptist Church on Sundays in his Mom's convertible. His youngest niece Vickie was just an infant, so she did not get to take those death defying drives to Sunday school standing up in the front seat with the other kids clutching a Bible. Alan's parents owned "Allen Cleaners" at the southwest corner of Belt Line and Central Expressway in Richardson which is the Richardson Heights Shopping Center. The dry cleaners was behind Truman Truelove's Gulf station which is now a Chevron, and a McDonald's stands where the cleaner once was. During the 1960's, James Ling was a regular customer, so Alan's parents had Alan invest his earnings from working at the cleaners in Ling-Tempco-Vought stock, and was recognized by LTV as the youngest stockholder in the company. As an older teenage, he worked at Allen Case Ltd., which was a men's clothier also in the Heights Shopping Center. Before his high school graduation, Alan enlisted in the US Navy and was stationed in Cam Rahn Bay off of the South China Sea during a portion of his time in the Vietnam War. Most of the live fire he took during deployment was when he frequented the on-base club and after enjoying a few drinks, would help himself to one of the officer's unattended jeeps to get back to his barracks. The officers were not amused when they found that their jeeps had been "borrowed" and were now on the other side of the base and gunfire in his direction was not unheard of. One of his family's "treasures" is the globe that his Mom and Dad used to show the grandkids where Alan was in the world when they would receive his letters home. In his twelve years of proudly serving his country, he attained the rank of Radioman 1st class before his honorable discharge. Subsequent to his Navy service, Alan returned home where he worked for Geophysical Service Inc. of Dallas and was based around the world, often in remote and isolated areas, where he established and maintained electronic radio positioning navigation equipment for marine seismic vessels. During this time, he met his future wife Debbie in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. Together they returned to the Dallas area and in 1985, they became the proud parents of Robert J.D. Allen. When Robert was six, and after Alan's mother and father had passed away, they packed up Robert and moved back to Newfoundland. In Canada, Alan embarked on a career as a licensed Private Investigator for several years and was a Master Mason at Whiteway Masonic Lodge of Newfoundland & Labrador. During 2004, Alan returned solo to the Dallas area and once again to work in the seismic oil exploration industry, traveling to and working in Norway, Shanghai, Morocco, Curacao, Bay of Bengal, Romania, Benin, the Arctic Circle, Thailand, West Africa and Cyprus. He worked on many of these assignments through his friend Ted Cooper's company based in Houston. In his lifetime, Alan visited or worked on every continent of the world with the exception of Antarctica before retiring in 2011. Upon retirement, Alan settled into a daily routine at his "palatial lake estate" on Lake Texoma. Along with his faithful companion Brandy who rode shotgun with him on the golf cart to check the mail, he settled into a quiet lifestyle. Alan spent his time collecting watches, working on his PC and sharing information on a forum that was devoted to dogs with "EPI", which is a pancreatic insufficiency that affects all dog breeds. Over months and months of researching and experimenting, Alan developed and fine- tuned Brandy's diet so that she would not suffer from this debilitating disease. The owner of the forum emailed the followings to Alan's family upon learning of his illness: "When your Uncle Alan first joined epi4dogs, he said he would not be participating much something to the effect that it wasnt his thing but then OMG..he asked questions and then little by little he really started chatting with others and then he offered support and suggestions to others and was simply "there" for others- -which is so important… he even did a chart of Brandys EPI Log and helped me upload it onto the website so that others could see what keeping an EPI Log was all about what I am trying to say is that your Uncle was an absolute delight and helped many other folks too! And also, PLEASE let your Uncle know how much he touched others and tell him that we miss him and think of him often." At least once a year for the last ten years, Robert came down from Canada to spend several weeks with his Dad on Lake Texoma. They rode around the neighborhood in the golf cart with Brandy, practiced their shooting skills at the target range, and enjoyed the Mustang Bullitt that Alan purchased and tricked out for Robert through the years. Robert will continue to enjoy his Dad's passion for fast cars every time he takes the Bullitt out for a spin on the open Texas highways. Alan was extremely proud of his son and his service to the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and looked forward to his annual visits so much so, that he would interrupt his regular daily nap schedule when Robert was in town. Robert is a compliment to his parent's upbringing as he works hard, plays hard, and is mature beyond his years. His head is on straight, and even though he sports a pretty definite Canadian accent, he is a true son of Texas. When Alan was first diagnosed with lung cancer that had metastasized to his brain and adrenal glands in October 2013, Robert used his accrued vacation time to return to Texas with his girlfriend Raina. Together for two months, they attended unselfishly to Alan's every need including driving him to and from radiation treatments and countless oncology appointments in Plano. While their last days together with Alan were limited, Robert and Raina showed their love and devotion to Alan in many ways, only returning to Newfoundland when the RNC required him to return to duty. Alan passed away on Tuesday February 11, 2014 at 8:35am with his adoring sister Melinda by his side, after having cared for him throughout the previous night. We will be forever thankful that even though his body was ravaged by the effects of his disease, he never once complained of being in pain. While his speech was severely limited in the final weeks, his last clearest statement during this time was delivered in typical Alan style. About a week before his death, and upon being told by his family that as much as we wanted him to, we knew that he was not going to survive his illness, Alan clearly said "Perhaps I should smoke a cigar then". Whether his intent was to celebrate his life, or to mark his eminent passing we will never know, but he followed his statement with an ever so slightly ironic smile. As Melinda will tell you, although Alan was at times a solitary man, he loved his son, his family, friends, and Brandy. He especially loved his rights as a citizen of a free country. Alan fought for and endorsed the right to bear arms for all Americans and practiced what he preached. We will all miss his ever present sarcastic humor, his opinions, his dashing good looks, his hearty laugh, and his sweet hugs and kisses. We will remember how he was always a very early arrival for family get-togethers and how we joked that we should add an hour to the time we gave him so he would arrive with everyone else at the appointed time. While there will now always be an unfilled hole in our family and our hearts are aching, we are thankful that we had Alan in our lives and will remember him always. Alan, we love you. Robert and Raina Melinda and Michael Robin, Ronny, Rachel, Raegan and Riley Melody, Jason and Grace Vickie, Mike, Matthew, Mackenzie and Katie Arrangements are under the direction of: ARIA Cremation Service & Funeral Home 19310 Preston Road, Dallas, Texas 75252 214) 306-6700