William Ross Allen

OBITUARY FOR WILLIAM R. ALLEN

William Ross Allen was born in Aberdeen November 1950 … after a long and strong six year battle with pancreatic cancer, the man with the heart of a lion died peacefully at home near Tenino July 2018 surrounded by his loving wife and children. By the age of two, his parents had moved the family to California where he spent his youth, met and married the love of his life (Ethel), and started their life together. They remained in California (Central Coast and near San Jose), h ad two wonderful children (Jason and Jennifer), and moved to Oakville in 1978.

To understand who he was, a few simple things are important. He loved his immediate and extended family and provided well for his wife and children. He loved spending time with animals and small children and they loved him. He had a special affection for the elderly members of his extended family and could sit for hours and talk to them. He loved warm ocean water and soft sand for a winter vacation.

He loved to work on cars of all sorts … the older and more in need of repair, the better. He could talk to anybody like they were old friends … and at car shows could take an hour to get down one row that others might breeze through in 15 minutes. When he spent a year or two getting a car fixed up he would soon sell it or trade it because the thrill was gone … he needed a car to work on … a trait he probably learned at his Dad’s side when he was a young boy.

He had a huge curiosity and never stopped learning new things. He loved growing a garden. The planning of it, the physicalness of it, the watching it grow, and sharing the bounty … all these things appealed to him. He had the ability to see things in 3-D and keep that vision in his head without putting any of it on paper. He built a large elaborate deck around two sides of his most recent home that has many different features and complements the huge 400 year old oak tree in the backyard. He built a previous new home from scratch primarily with his own two hands and strong back.

He was an adrenaline junky even as a small child running full tilt to see what was new and exciting. He always enjoyed the rush of riding motorcycles (small & large) and loved his long rides with family and friends on his Harley. During his days in Army Airborne he was excited to be able to jump out of perfectly good airplanes … even to the point of taking other people’s slots so he could jump more. By the time he was done with his brief enlistment he had more than 100 jumps.

He had a great sense of humor. When he came into a room where there wasn’t laughter, he felt obligated to fix that problem … he could gently tease people of all ages and he told great stories … if those stories needed a little embellishment to be a bit better and a lot funnier, then so be it.

All who knew him, will miss him. All who loved him, will continue to love him as we keep him in our hearts and our minds forever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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