Dean William Allen

Dean William Allen passed away suddenly March 13, 2010 at the age of 54. He was the son of William Dean Allen and Undine Faison. He is survived by his wife Barbara, his three daughters Misty Joe Jackson, Jennie Locklear and Sallie Stephens, their mother Diane L. Allen, two grandsons Allen Jackson and Blake Stephens, his aunt Emma Albano, six brothers and sisters Richard Ferebee, Mary Diaz, Margaret Diaz, Barbara Diaz-Welch, June Bruusema and Perry Mitchell Jr., and a large extended family. In addition to his parents, he is predeceased by his brother Thomas Lynn.

Dean was raised on a farm in the area that is now North Raleigh on Spring Forest Rd when it was still a rural country road. To get to Raleigh, they walked out to Falls of the Neuse and caught the Greyhound bus coming down from Richmond. Later the family farmed off of US 401. Dean graduated from Millbrook High School in 1975. For many years, he lived in the Garner area and later after his marriage to Barbara, he moved back to north Raleigh just "down the road" from where he started.

In his early years, Dean worked various jobs from driving a school bus, working in the kitchen at the Plantation Inn and managing a hardware store to driving one of those same Greyhound busses he used to ride in as a child. Most of the time, he worked more than one job at the same time. For many years, he operated a sign business called Dean Allen Signs and at his death, he still did an occasional sign job for an old customer. Dean also worked for NCSU for over 20 years. The last three years, Dean was Facilities Maintenance Supervisor in the Transportation Department at the university.

Dean worked hard and played hard. He always had projects going especially involving anything with wheels. For many years he was an enthusiast of early Ford Econoline vans and attended events all over the country. Later when he bought his motorcycle, he joined the Southern Cruisers Riding Club where riding to Lexington for bar-b-cue lunch is a common event. More recently, he developed a passion for Ford Festivas, a little boxy car that hasn't been made in over 15 years. When he found the online Ford Festiva group, he found a new home. He was the co-founder of what is informally called the Festiva Madness car club and hosted an annual Festiva Madness car meet the last three years.

Dean spent considerable time maintaining contact with his extended family and with the many people he counted as friends through all of his passions. He had a way of relating to people that made you feel you were talking to an old friend after you had known him for 10 minutes. After his return to North Raleigh, he constantly ran into old family friends or school mates and did an amazing job of remembering folks and picking back up with them like he had just seen them the week before.

Dean was a warm, passionate man for whom family was extremely important. He was a caring, considerate man with a huge heart. He was always generous with his love, time, and knowledge. His untimely death leaves a huge hole in the center of this family that will be impossible to fill.

A remembrance and visitation will be held at Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, 1701 E. Millbrook Rd, Raleigh on Thursday March 18th at 6:00PM. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the American Heart Association .

Condolences may be sent to www.BrownWynneEastMillbrook.com