Obituary
James Frederick "Fred" Allen

James Frederick Allen, “Fred” to all who knew him, was born April 5, 1934 to Sidney Ralph Allen and Helen Crosier Allen in Vineland, Colorado. The son of a cattle rancher, Fred grew up building fences, herding cattle, and loving ranch life. He built a life organized around the rancher’s ethos of hard work, deeds over words, and loving service to his faith, his country, his community, and most of all to his family.

The summer after Fred graduated from high school, his father came out to the field where he was busily working on his Farmall H tractor and asked, “You planning on going to college in the fall?” “I suppose so” “Well you better get to it.” That was their total conversation on the subject. Fred soon enrolled at Colorado State University where he joined Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity and studied agricultural economics.

On the first day of freshman English, a very sharply-dressed young woman walked into Fred’s class. She was the prettiest girl he had ever seen. Her name was Evelyn Fleming. Fred offered daily to drive Evelyn and a friend home in his pickup. Evelyn kept putting the friend in the middle seat in the mistaken belief that Fred was really interested in the other girl. Once the business of the actual object of Fred’s interest got sorted, the courtship began in earnest. By senior year, Evelyn was the sweetheart of Fred’s fraternity, Fred and Evelyn were pinned, and an engagement soon followed.

Upon graduating from Colorado State, Fred enlisted in the Navy. He completed his basic training and then returned to marry Evelyn while on leave over the Christmas holidays, December 27, 1956, one day after the nuptials of their best friends, Don and Mitzi Moss. Following the ceremony, the newlyweds drove straight through to Pensacola, Florida, where Fred attended flight school. Upon completing his training, the couple were sent first to San Francisco and then to Honolulu, Hawaii. At the time, Naval officers were transported to Hawaii via surplus space on cruise lines, so Evelyn and Fred enjoyed a belated honeymoon aboard the Matsonia - a memory they recount with great fondness.

Almost immediately upon their arrival in Hawaii, Fred was shipped out to Japan, where he served as a Naval Air Intelligence officer. Evelyn remained in Honolulu, where she taught junior high home economics. She still recalls Fred’s arrival back in Hawaii, his wrist handcuffed to a briefcase of high security documents, a pistol on his belt. The young couple loved Hawaii, and enjoyed Navy life, making many lifelong friends.

Fred contemplated a career in the Navy, but instead returned to Colorado to help with the family ranch, and eventually to pursue a career with National Cash Register Corporation (NCR). Fred oversaw sales and installation of some of the earliest electronic banking systems, as well as point of sale systems in restaurants and grocery stores, specializing in systems that tracked supplies and inventory in real time. His territory stretched from New Mexico and Arizona northward into Wyoming, and Fred enjoyed flying his little Cessna airplane across those states, landing in small town airfields as he served his far flung clients. At times, he would bring along daughter, Cindy, who was born in 1961.

For most of two decades, Fred and Evelyn moved between Pueblo, Colorado and Colorado Springs, Colorado. Then, in 1974 Fred accepted a promotion that moved him with his family to Raleigh, North Carolina. The job that led Fred to North Carolina was with NCR, but he soon left the company to branch out on his own, eventually merging his startup with Century Data Systems, where he worked for many years. Fred’s tasks included training their young sales force, sorting out logistical tangles with the installations of new computer networks, and building strong relationships with colleagues and customers. Fred was so respected that, when he retired, he was asked to return to the company for short stints on multiple occasions to sort out intractable challenges, and then hired by a startup begun by two young entrepreneurs that he had previously trained in the business. All told, Fred retired some five-plus times before it stuck.

When he finally did “retire,” Fred spent much of his time in his woodshop where he enjoyed helping neighbors and family with repairs and projects, and made a handful of beautiful heirloom pieces that will be loved by his family for generations.

Fred held a quiet but deep Christian faith, grounded in actions rather than words. Soon after moving to Raleigh, Fred and Evelyn joined the First Presbyterian Church and the Koinonia Class, and enrolled Cindy in the church youth programs. Over the intervening years, Fred became a consistent, faithful, and reasoned leader within the church. He served multiple terms as deacon and elder, served on the capital campaign committee that led to the building of the Stock Building, and on the search committees for Dr. Ed Stock, Dr. Ed McCleod, and Laurie Taylor Weicher. Among his favorite church-related activities were the Early Birds, where he was a regular attendee for many years. He drove the church bus to pick up members who found it difficult to attend Sunday services, and regularly drove the bus for Koinonia class trips to Black Mountain and Montreat. He was also a dependable and highly skilled builder with Habitat for Humanity. Fred was honored by First Presbyterian with the designation of Elder Emeritus.

Fred honorably served his country, his profession, and his church. However, we will remember him most as a loving and steadfast husband, father, uncle, brother, and grandfather. Fred has always prioritized his family. His quiet and deep love, expressed through a multitude of everyday deeds, kept his family safe, close, confident, and loved. Whether returning to the family ranch each year for harvest, driving wherever needed without complaint to rescue his daughter from her latest crisis, advising his niece as she took over running the family ranch, supporting his grandchildren no matter how many times they made him rub his head, or lovingly tending to Evelyn’s every daily need, Fred has simply been there - reliably, consistently, always. There is quiet heroism in daily acts of loving service, given consistently and generously, without fanfare or expectation. It is that loving example that is Fred’s true legacy, and that we will hold in our hearts forever.

James Frederick Allen is survived by his beloved wife of 67 years, Evelyn Fleming Allen; his daughter, Cynthia Allen Edwards; grandchildren, James Austin Edwards, Hannah Edwards-Veaner (Allison); sister, Eleanor Allen Courtney (Bob); niece, Nancy Allen Bregar; and nephews Tom Bregar (Cammy), Bryan Bregar (Becky), and Robert Bregar (Monica). Fred was preceded in death by his father, Ralph Sidney Allen, his mother, Helen Crosier Allen, and the mother who raised him, Mildred Farrell Allen; his older brother, Frank Richard “Dick” Allen (Fern); and younger brother, Robert Allen (Alice).

A celebration of life will be held on Monday, March 11th at 1:30pm at Abbotswood at Stonehenge, 7900 Creedmoor Rd. Raleigh, NC 27613