Richard Reynolds Allured

August 6, 1928 - April 23, 2023

Dick Allured, former Fire Management Officer for the U.S. Forest Service Placerville District, avid outdoorsman, veteran of the Korean War, our beloved father, grandfather, uncle, friend, and neighbor, passed away on Sunday, April 23, 2023.

Dick is survived by his children Katherine (Jerry) Ferdolage, Karen (Randy) Barrow, Cindy (Gerold) Merker, Leslie (Floyd) Baumgartner, and David (Angela) Allured; 10 grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, sisters-in law Betty Greve Allured and Joyce Voss, and numerous nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his wife Jean Ann Voss Allured (July 10, 1931- May 11, 2021), and brothers Robert T. “Bob” Allured and Walter S. “Ted” Allured.

Dick was born on August 6, 1928 to parents William Henry Allured and Sara Margaret Reynolds Allured in Los Angeles, CA. They soon moved from their home in Long Beach to Jackson, CA where his parents operated a mine near Fuller Lane. He and his brothers, Bob and Ted, were required to be resilient and resourceful children. Following their parent’s divorce, they moved to live with relatives in Los Altos for a time, then back to Jackson after a few years. Dick was a hard worker and an outdoor enthusiast from a young age. Fishing, hunting, and trapping were a part of his young life, as were snowshoeing, skiing, and horseback riding. At 12, Dick was told to take a small herd of horses from just east of Jackson to Silver Lake for the summer tourists. He was given a day to do this and always told his daughters that was his “endurance ride.” Dick was a miler for Jackson High School, and made it to the state track and field meet his senior year for pole vault. He started dating his future wife, Jean Voss, while in high school. After graduating in 1947, he ran a winter trap line between Peddler Hill and Carson Pass. He “decided he didn’t like his own company” and moved to San Francisco, where he started working for Davis Cordage. On November 26, 1950, he married Jean; they were married for over 70 years before she passed away.

The couple lived in San Francisco until Dick was inducted into the U.S. Army on March 1, 1951, after being honorably discharged from the Navy the day before - he was too seasick to continue! After induction and training, Dick was sent to Korea where he served in the 7th Infantry Division, spending most of his time there on a half-track near Kumhwa Valley and Triangle Hill. Twins Katherine and Karen were 8 months old by the time Dick returned from Korea. He was honorably discharged from the Army on August 29, 1956.

Dick went back to work with Davis Cordage, then U.S. Rubber Co. before moving back to Amador County, where he began working for the U.S. Forest Service on the El Dorado National Forest. He worked in Timber Management and Fire Management for the Cosumnes and Amador Districts; in 1961 he moved his family to Placerville in order to work in the Placerville District. Throughout these years his family was able to live with him during the summer months when he was stationed at Caldor and Plummer Ridge Guard Station. He designed, built, and ran the firefighting operations for the Caldor inmate camp from the late 1950’s to early 1960’s. He thoroughly enjoyed working with the inmates and often said that was the best job he ever had while working for the Forest Service. At one time Dick marked timber with Vern Sprock for the Sierra Ski Ranch expansion, and he was a ski patrolman in the winters there in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Dick was passionate about the national forest trail system and was responsible for improvements to the Caples Creek Trail up to Government Meadows.

Dick took his family on many “memorable” adventures: backpacking, downhill skiing, hiking and cross-country skiing in the El Dorado National Forest and beyond, and bicycling the backroads of Amador and El Dorado Counties. One such memorable adventure involved unplanned snow camping. Dick thought it would be fun to ski cross-country from Pickett’s Junction in Hope Valley over Carson Pass to Ted’s cabin at Caples Lake which, it turned out, was buried under 13 feet of snow. After Katherine found the top of the flag pole (which indicated he wasn’t digging in the correct place), Dick spent 12 hours digging a tunnel to the door; both girls got severe sun and wind burned faces and Karen got frostbitten fingers. Most adventures with Dick involved blisters and exhaustion, rather than being truly life-threatening.

Upon his mandatory retirement in 1982 after 29 years with the Forest Service, Dick went on to other jobs and pursuits. He scaled logs at the Mich-Cal lumber mill in Camino, drove a bus for fire crews throughout the West, tried his hand at prospecting, maintained and inspected several local forest trails with the help of his wife, children and grandchildren, helped his children with various projects, went on numerous extended road trips, learned to golf, and built a sailboat which he sailed in the San Francisco Bay with his family and friends. Dick was a member of the Masons for 61 years. In 1994-95 he was honored to be the chair of the Planning and Environment Committee as well as a member of the Criminal Justice Investigative Committee for the El Dorado County Grand Jury. For many years Dick enjoyed going to breakfast at the Golden Waffle with fellow retirees as part of the group called SIRs. Another highlight of his later years was his Honor Flight, accompanied by his son David, to Washington D.C. in 2017.

Dick loved animals, which was pretty obvious when a cat would find his lap or a dog came up for a quick pat and a nuzzle. He enjoyed cracking jokes, good stories, and throwing parties with friends, family, and coworkers. During his last days Dick had wonderful and caring caregivers, nurses and doctors for whom his family is very grateful. Mostly, Dick loved his family, and his family loved him back.

There will be a memorial service on June 25 at 2:00 p.m. in the historic ME Church at the Federated Church in Placerville, followed by a gathering of friends and family at Dick’s home. In lieu of flowers a gift to El Dorado Backcountry Ski Patrol (ebsp.clubexpress.com) or the charity of your choice would be welcome.