Edward Louis Allen

Edward Louis Allen, 92, died Friday, May 28, peacefully at his home in Raleigh. He was a kind and loving father, grandfather, great-grandfather, friend and neighbor and was expecting to become a great-great-grandfather this Fall.

Mr. Allen was born in Greenville, NC and graduated from Farmville High School, where he played baseball, football and basketball and lettered in all three. He went on to play Minor League Baseball. He joined the U.S Air Force in July 1948 and did his basic training in San Antonio, TX. While serving, he graduated from Control Tower Operation School at Scott Field in Belleville, Illinois, and spent the next 18 months as a Control Tower Operator at Mitchel Air Force Base in Long Island, New York. He then entered Air Route Radar School at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. After graduation from Radar School, the Air Force sent him to the Island of Guam in the South Pacific where he controlled air traffic into and out of the island during the Korean War. After being honorably discharged in 1951, he returned home to North Carolina.

On September 19, 1952 he married Dorothy Garris of Belvoir, NC and they made their first home in Greenville, NC. Together they raised a family of three daughters and two sons. He went to work at the Federal Aviation Administration as an air traffic controller, first at Smith-Reynolds airport in Winston Salem, NC. In late 1957 they moved to Raleigh, where he worked as an air traffic controller at Raleigh-Durham Airport until he retired in 1975. During this time he also worked radar for Raleigh approach control.

Mr. Allen led an active life while raising his family, to whom he was devoted. He was a member of the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses. He was a kind and generous man who would give the shirt off his back or his last dime to help anyone in need. He once gave a car to a young stranger who desired to attend college, but had no transportation to get there. When he was not working, he found time to enjoy hunting, fishing, golfing, coaching little league baseball and basketball, and family beach vacations when card games of Rook or lawn Croquet often became highly competitive. The same went for games of Horse played on the driveway basketball court. He bowled with his adult children on a team named “Family Affair”. He also loved to fly, was interested in “anything airplanes” and was a private pilot. From five children, his family grew to include 13 grandchildren – 2 girls and 11 boys, and 25 great grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his devoted wife of 57 years, Dorothy, his parents Bert and Lillie Allen, all of his siblings, Lou Cooke, Kathleen Mozingo, Margaret Crawford, J.B. Allen and Paul Allen, and his oldest son, Edward Glen Allen. Surviving him are his daughters, Rose Summerlin and husband Bruce, Ann Thomas and husband Bill, Donna Lewis and husband Jim, his youngest son, Scott Allen and wife Megan and a daughter-in-law, Maria Allen Stockdale. He also leaves behind his dear friend and companion in his later years, Barbara Haddock, five sister-in-laws, Naomi Buck, Peggy Haddock, Wilma Garris, Linda Norville and Sue Allen and many nieces and nephews whom he loved.

A visitation with the family will be held on Friday, June 4, starting at 12:00pm at Brown-Wynne Funeral Home on E. Millbrook Rd. A memorial service will begin at 1:00pm, also at Brown-Wynne and burial services will be held at Briar Creek Memorial Gardens following the Memorial. Condolences may be shared with the family at www.brownwynne.com. In lieu of flowers, donations to his memory may be made to Transitions Hospice Care in Raleigh. The family appreciates the support provided by all of the Transitions staff. The family would also like to thank his caregivers, Krista, and Amy Davis and her associates Miracle and Latehia.