Maxine Allen

Maxine Tate Allen’s Biography By Brad Allen Maxine Tate Allen is survived by her sons Mark and Brad, and six grandchildren: Shauna, Honey Carlson, Russell, Michael, Skylar, and Connor Allen. Maxine Tate Allen was born on October 18, 1925 in Thatcher, Arizona in her parents’ bedroom. Her parents were Alma and Iretta Layton Tate. Mom was the youngest of three children. The oldest was her sister Margaret or Mar. Mar died of cancer about the age of 38. Her older brother Harold was a dentist in the Phoenix area and he passed away in May 1997. The population of Thatcher when Mom was born was about 500 people. She attended Thatcher High School. She started playing sports and she especially loved softball and bowling during her early high school years. Mom’s best friend in Thatcher was Cleora Peterson Walls. They did everything together. Cleora was her best friend in grade school, junior high, and high school. They met in second grade when Cleora transferred to the same school. Cleora’s Mom passed away at age eight and Cleora, her Dad, and three sisters moved to Thatcher and lived with her grandmother. Mom and Cleora were life-long friends and they stayed in contact throughout their lives. They were cheer leaders together in high school. Actually Mom was a cheer leader for five years at her high school. When Mom was still in the eighth grade the high school cheer leaders asked her to join them because she was athletic and she could do the cheers correctly. Mom and Cleora also played softball together. Mom always loved playing sports in general. Her other favorite sport was bowling. Mom’s older sister Mar introduced Mom to bowling at the age of 14, and taught her little sister how to throw the ball. Mar could drive a car and they drove to the neighboring metropolis of Safford. Safford had a population of about 3,000 people. Mom was always an excellent athlete and excelled in sports. She quickly became the best bowler in the county including the men! The men invited her to play on their teams. Mom told me she sometimes she wished the men would be better bowlers so she could have had more competition. She often bowled in tournaments in singles, doubles, and the team events. She not only won the singles and the team competition, but she would always play the doubles events with three different partners and she would win first, second, and third place in the doubles too! Mom bowled 237 while still in high school and later became the Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and California Women’s Singles Champion simultaneously. Mom’s older brother, Harold, left Thatcher to go on a mission for the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1941 and returned home in 1943. Harold was frustrated during his mission because many people he met while on his mission criticized him for not fighting in the Pacific during WW ll. Mom said the day he returned home from his mission he signed the papers to join the Air Force and was transferred to Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas. Mom and her parents moved to Phoenix when Mom was 16 years old. Cleora recalled one trip when the high school girls from Thatcher drove to Phoenix in the back of a pick-up truck to play a softball game. The girls from Thatcher lost the game by a large margin and didn’t score a run. Mom was the only one on the team to get a hit against the opposing team’s strong pitcher. Mom graduated from Phoenix High School in 1943. She attended Phoenix Junior College her freshman year and then she transferred to Arizona State University, Tempe (ASU) for her Sophomore and Junior years. During her time at ASU Mom was recruited by Dottie Wilkinson, the player-coach of the Arizona Ramblers, a professional softball team in Phoenix. Dottie was considered to be the best female athlete of all time from Arizona and her first name was used in a movie about women baseball players called A League of Their Own, starring Tom Hanks and Gena Davis as Dottie. Mom was a starting player at first and third base in 1946. In 1948 and 1949 the Ramblers won the World Championship. During this time Mom’s sister Mar moved to Provo, Utah to attend college at BYU. There Mar met her first husband; but sadly, her husband died three months and three days after their marriage. Cleora was Mom’s best friend in grade school, junior high, and high school. They met in second grade when Cleora transferred to the same school. Cleora’s Mom passed away when Cleora was eight years old and Cleora and her Dad and her three sisters moved to Thatcher and lived with her grandmother. Mom and Cleora became life-long friends and stayed in contact throughout their lives. Mom transferred to Brigham Young University for her Senior year in college where she graduated in 1947, in what else, Physical Education. It was there that she met her future husband Lee Allen, and they were married December 12, 1947 in Mesa, Arizona. They moved back to Phoenix where Dad completed his Master’s Degree in Biology at ASU while Mom worked for Walsh Construction. Dad got a job teaching after receiving his Master’s Degree and Mom had twin girls, Leslie and Melanie, in 1951. Sadly, the twins were born premature and passed away the same the day. Mark was born in 1953 in Phoenix, and shortly after his birth the family moved to Lakewood, California. I was born in 1956 in Long Beach, California and the family moved to Seal Beach, California in 1961. We lived in Seal Beach where Mom and Dad became good friends with our neighbors Dick and Vena Graham. Even though we moved to Placentia, California in 1965 they remained close friends for the rest of their lives. Mom and Dad moved to Yorba Linda, California in 1985 and then to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1988 after Dad retired from teaching at Fullerton College. Dad died in 1997 when they lived in a senior citizen’s community called Sun City Summerlin in Las Vegas. There Mom discovered a senior softball team and she rekindled her love for the game. She was MVP every year on the team playing shortstop and in time she became the player-coach. She loved the camaraderie with her teammates and being part of a team again. The highlight for the team, and for Mom, came in 1997 when the team, called the Silver Belles, represented the United States at the Senior Olympic games in Tucson, Arizona where they finished in fourth place respectively. In January of 1997 Dad died unexpectedly after a surgical mistake, and that was really hard on all of us, but it was especially hard for Mom. It left a void in her life that was difficult to fill. Mom just lived a few minutes from our house and we did a lot of things together, but there was always someone missing. In September of 1997, our son Connor was born. Mom was so happy to have a new baby in the family. My wife Leslie and I were both teachers so Mom aka “Grammy” watched Connor often. She was “free babysitting” and she and Connor were like two peas in a pod. Grammy catered to Connor’s every need and Connor loved every minute of it. As a baby Grammy had Connor first learning to roll a ball and then learning how to throw and catch. If Connor broke a lamp with a bad throw Grammy would smile and say, “He’s got a good arm!” Connor was perfect timing to help fill the void for Mom after Dad’s sudden and unexpected passing. In 2004 we moved to a new home and we asked Grammy to buy the home next door to us which see did. There was a large park across the street with two tennis courts and plenty of room to play any game we liked. It was there that Connor learned to play baseball, basketball, football, tennis, and golf. Of course Grammy made sure Connor learned the proper throwing, catching, and hitting techniques for baseball. It was also 2004 that Mom decided to retire from the Silver Belles, at age 79. Even though she was the best player on the team she felt frustrated that her body had become too much of a hindrance to play ball in the way she wanted to play to meet her minimum requirements. So after 10 years of senior softball Mom hung up her bat and glove. Plus, Mom had Connor now, and she was very content to focus all of her time and energy on her favorite pastime, Connor. Mom and I decided to live together in April 2011 when Mom was 86 years old. It was a good match because I could drive the car and help with things around the house. We watched lots of sports together, especially tennis matches, and the neighbors must have wondered what we were yelling about as we cheered on our favorite players! We enjoyed driving to Red Rock Canyon and to Mount Charleston in the summer to cool off. We had lots of long talks about her past and everything under the sun. It was nice to be able to be best friends with Mom instead of seeing her as “Mom”. Mom loved game shows and we must have watched every episode of Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, and Smarter Than a Fifth Grader ever made! In 2011 she fell after passing out and broke her hip. During her rehab from hip surgery she began to lose her appetite. Over time she got weaker and needed a feeding tube placed in her stomach for nourishment. In August of 2013 she needed to go to the Emergency Room for atrial fibrillation or A-Fib. Over time she got weaker and was bedridden for the last 12 months. She spent the last three months of her life at the Silver Hills Health Care Center in Las Vegas where the staff always mentioned her happy smile. I was surprised that Mom didn’t complain about pain. I worked in the room next to her room so I could hear her moan at times in pain. I would go in her room and ask her if I could do something to make her more comfortable and she would say, “I’m fine” and smile. Even as she was dying she taught me how to die with grace and dignity. She passed away on November 9, 2015 at 11:15 pm. As always, we watched Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune together that night. Mom lived until the age of 90 and enjoyed a lifetime of experience, she shared her love with many and received lots of love in return. She was always willing to help others and to share her beautiful smile and warm nature. I was always proud to call her “Mom”. She made a difference.