Remembering Grandpa Allen

1942-2025

Harriet said it best, on a walk this week: “He was a great man.”

The last time the girls and I were with Grandpa Allen was Thanksgiving weekend. We visited and went to church with Grandpa and Nana. He was a bit slower but still himself, as he was until the end: gentle, soft-spoken, funny, kind. Then at Christmas he had a fall, and Richard and his sisters and Nana have been at his side, helping someone who has always been there for them, and for us.

It’s hard to explain to children as young as Harriet that they won’t see someone they loved again, so we are remembering all of the wonderful things we can about Grandpa.

Bea says that Grandpa Allen had a great duck voice, which he used on the phone when they were little to make them laugh. He understood children very well, not just rambunctiousness and high spirits but also shyness.

He gave the best hugs, Harriet says.

He could tell a great joke, and had a warm laugh. He was the kind of person who would matter-of-factly pull a story out of his past that totally surprised you.

For example: his first car was a motorcyle!

He was an only child, and spent a lot of time as a kid driving across the country with his mom and dad, visiting national parks. He had exciting stories about wild animals, especially dangerous ones like bears and snakes.

He loved domesticated animals too, especially rabbits, which because of Richard’s allergies were the family’s pets for many years. Like his kids, these were smart, well-cared for bunnies.

He was a rule-follower, generally, but would bend the rules when necessary. I can remember Grandpa Allen sneaking Timothy, their beloved elderly rabbit, into a “no pets” vacation rental.

He loved American-style home cooking but in his work in D.C. also had a taste for spicy food from other countries, which he’d try at lunch with his colleagues.

He was a teetotaler. His celebratory drink was Pennsylvania Dutch birch beer, which wasn’t available in the DC area until sometime in the 1990s, so for many years he drank it only on vacation in Ocean City, New Jersey.

The girls didn’t get to know this part of him, but their dad has told them that their grandfather was really, really great at math. He was the first in his family to go to college, which he attended on a scholarship. He earned his PhD in Industrial Psychology at Purdue University, which is also where he met Nana, who was studying for her Master’s. They married and moved to Reston, Virginia, where they raised three kids: Janet, Richard, and Joy.

Grandpa worked for the federal government for almost all of his career, commuting every day from Reston or Herndon to the city or to Rockville, Maryland. He retired from the Food and Drug Administration before the girls were born, but while there helped protect all of us.

He was a devout Christian, a member of the United Christian Parish in Reston for many years. The last time we were at church with Nana and Grandpa a fellow member spoke to Richard about how much he appreciated committee work with Grandpa. He was the type of person to volunteer and give of his time quietly, because he believed it was the right thing to do. His faith guided his life and decisions but never in a showy or pushy way. He led by example but probably would not have called himself a leader.

He always asked about our cats, even Randy, a roaming cat who visits us about once a week.

He was very proud of his grandchildren: Joseph, Rebecca, Beatrice, Harriet, and Lucille.

He loved and cared for Nana, and was cared for by Nana, for many years.

We miss him.

Lots of love to all of you, especially to Nana.