Eugene W. ALLEN

ALLEN, LALOR, AMUNDSON, HAMMOND, FLIEDNER, KIDWELL

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 2/10/2024 at 13:07:00

Eugene W. Allen
29 March 1881 -- 20 February 1984

Longtime Clarion resident, Eugene Allen, died Feb. 20, 1984 at the Clarion Care Center. Eugene would have been 103 years old on March 29, 1984. Gene spent his early boyhood in the Taylorville, Ill. area. He was one of a farming family of 12 children. As a young man he moved to Eagle Grove
with the Allen family and became a boilermaker in the Northwestern Railroad shops. In June of 1907 he was joined in matrimony with Edith Lalor of Eagle Grove. Shortly after the two traveled to
Washington where they homesteaded 160 acres of timberland on the Columbia River near the city of Bossberg. It was here that their daughter, Mildred, and son, Harold, were born. The family moved to Spokane, Wash, for several years and at the start of World War I Gene and his family moved to Seattle, Wash, where he worked as a crane operator in the Schwabb shipyards.

In 1918 the Aliens moved to Clarion and Gene worked as a mechanic for his brother-in-law Edgar Amundson. They sold and repaired Mitchel, Chandler and Page automobiles. When Edgar Amundson moved his garage and auto sales to Eagle Grove, Gene went to work for the Chicago & Great Western Railroad in Clarion. During the depression Gene left the railroad to sell Watkin's Products throughout Wright County. About 1932 Gene entered into the roofing sales and repair business. He remained active in this endeavor until he was about 90 years old.

From the time he was a young man, Gene experimented, developed and explored new ways and methods to do things. He had in excess of 35 inventions, running the gauntlet from such simple things as the double pointed phonograph needle to a highly complicated electronic system which kept two trains or locomotives from hitting head-on.

The daughter, Mildred, passed away on Labor Day, Sept. 2, 1969. His wife, Edith, passed away on Dec. 5, 1978, just a few days after her 92nd birthday. He is survived by his son, Harold, a
retired Army officer, living in Falls Church, Va.; three granddaughters, Mrs. Sally Hammond, Vienna, Va., Mrs. Susan Fliedner of Miami, Fla.; Mrs Kathleen Kidwell of Vienna, Va.; and two great-grandchildren, Ned and Elizabeth Hammond of Marblehead, Mass.

His last years have been spent at the Clarion Care Center. Memorial services were held at the
Eyler-Willim Funeral Home Feb. 22, at 10:30 a.m. Burial was in the family plot at Evergreen Cemetery in Clarion.

Eagle Grove Eagle -- Eagle Grove, Iowa
February 29, 1984