Nancy L. Allen Died 2011

ALLEN

Posted By: Connie Swearingen-Volunteer (email)
Date: 8/24/2012 at 14:00:07

Sioux City Journal
June 01, 2011

Nancy L. Allen, 63, of Stuart, Iowa, formerly of Sioux City, died Sunday, May 29, 2011.

Services will be 5 p.m. Thursday at Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Urbandale, Iowa. Private burial will be at a later date. Visitation with the family present will be 5 to 8 p.m. today at Johnson Family Funeral home in Stuart.

Nancy graduated from Stuart High School, Simpson College, Duke University, and earned a doctoral degree from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, focusing on young adult spirituality.

She served as pastor of churches in Liberty, N.C., and in Iowa at Wayland, Ventura, Urbandale and Sioux City. She was a campus minister at Simpson College, camping and youth director for the Iowa United Methodist Conference and was one of the first two women to be selected by a bishop of Iowa as a district superintendent. Her appointment to Aldersgate in 1993 was the first time a woman served as senior pastor of a church with staff in the Des Moines metro area.

In 2002, Nancy and her husband became directors of Wesley Woods Camp and Retreat Center near Indianola, Iowa, where nearly 10,000 people each year were impacted by her service to youth and young adults.

In retirement Nan completed the biography of her three great-great-great-aunts who were missionaries to China. The book will be published posthumously.

Survivors include her husband, Art of Stuart; a son, Benjamin Carter-Allen and family of Stuart; a son, Nathan Allen and family of Tucson, Ariz.; her mother, Betty Shepherd of Stuart; a brother, Everett Shepherd of Stuart; and a sister, Judy of Indianola.

Nancy was preceded in death by her father, George Shepherd of Stuart.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Nancy Allen Memorial Scholarship Fund of Garret-Evangelical Theological Seminary. The scholarship supports a seminary student serving a summer internship at Iowa United Methodist Camp.