Anne E. Allen

Anne E. Allen of Laramie, passed away on July 25 at the Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, Colorado, following a brief illness. Anne was born in Laramie, Wyoming, the first child of Beverly Mae Gilroy and John G. Gilroy. She was preceded in death by her elder daughter, Traci Allen Vinal of Eastford, Connecticut, and is survived by her husband of 62 years, John L. Allen of Laramie, her daughter, Jennifer L. Allen of Tucson, Arizona, a grand-daughter Grace Olsen of Tucson, a grandson Nicholas J. Vinal of Eastford, Connecticut, her sister Barbara Gilroy Mendicino and brother-in-law V. Frank Mendicino of Boulder, Colorado, her sister-in-law, Peggy Stevermer and brother-in-law John Stevermer of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and a host of nieces and nephews whom she loved and in whom she took great pride and joy.

Anne was born and raised in Laramie where she was an outstanding student, member of Job’s Daughters, and a cheerleader at Laramie High School. She attended the University of Wyoming where she met her future husband, John. While at UW, she was a member of several honorary societies and Pi Beta Phi sorority which she served as choral director for the annual Homecoming Sing and, in her senior year, as president of the chapter. She graduated with honors from the UW School of Education in 1963 and taught for a year in Elsinore, California while John completed his master’s degree at UW. The couple married in August 1964 and moved to Worcester, Massachusetts where John enrolled in the Graduate School of Geography at Clark University while Anne taught in the Worcester public schools. In 1967 the couple moved to Storrs, Connecticut when John joined the faculty of the University of Connecticut. Anne and her husband lived in Storrs for 33 ½ years, where they raised their two daughters, Traci and Jennifer. After both girls were in school, Anne obtained her master’s in education from UConn, specializing in children’s literature and special education, and returned to teaching in the Mansfield/Storrs public school system for 25 years. Her students remember her fondly and most of them say that she was their Best. Teacher. Ever. She was selected several times as Teacher-of-the-Year, served on a great many school and community boards and committees, and was a member of the women’s philanthropic organization, PEO. She found great satisfaction in reading aloud to shut-ins and at nursing homes in the Storrs community and often found that those to whom she read liked best her extensive collection of children’s and young adult literature. She was also an avid indoor and outdoor gardener and nurtured a world-class collection of exotic cacti. She loved all animals and at one point, the house in Storrs had a dog, a cat, a tank of tropical fish, a ferret, an indeterminate number of guinea pigs, and a huge rabbit she was taking care of during the rabbit’s owner’s sabbatical.

Because of their respective positions in the Storrs school system and the University of Connecticut, Anne and her husband were often called upon to host receptions, large and small dinner parties, cocktail parties, and other social events at the Allen home in Storrs. She was the perfect hostess and with her unique blend of style, humor, and grace, over the years she entertained, among others, state and national political figures, and two Hall-of-Fame basketball coaches. As an enthusiastic fan of both the UConn men’s and women’s basketball teams, she liked the coaches the best.

She loved music, both singing and playing the piano, and for years was a leading soprano in the award-winning choir of the Storrs Congregational Church, and she and John, a tenor/baritone in the choir, often practiced together. Her house in Storrs was wired with speakers in every room and was always filled with music. She and John enjoyed singing together just for fun and music filled her last hours as her family gathered around her bedside.

In 2000, Anne retired from teaching and returned to her native Laramie where her husband had accepted a “retirement position” at UW. During most of the last quarter century in Laramie, until sidelined by failing health, she was an active member of the senior singing group, The Melodies, the senior Little Theater group, The Unexpected Company, and Chapter AI of PEO which she served as president. As the last years of her husband’s academic career took him on the lecture circuit, she often accompanied him to far-away places with strange-sounding names (like Wolf Jaw, Montana). But of all the places she traveled to with her husband, her favorite place was the Allen family summer home on the North Fork of the Shoshone River near Yellowstone. She loved family stays with her daughters at “the cabin” as the girls were growing up, and after moving back to Wyoming, enjoyed hosting friends who came from New England to see what “this Wyoming thing” was all about.

Anne passed as she had lived, with dignity and grace and humor and gentleness. Following her wishes, there will be no memorial services. Her ashes will be spread, with wildflower seeds, in the meadow in front of the family cabin. Farewell sweet princess. May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.