Ryan ChartrandRay Allen, husband, father and former Cal Poly professor, passed away last Thursday of natural causes. He was 90 years old.
Allen was born Aug. 10, 1916, in Geyserville, Calif., and died Nov. 30 in Atascadero.
He is survived by his wife, Gail Blodgett-Allen; two sons, Carl and Barry Allen; and three daughters, Suzi, Mary and Nanette.
Allen grew up in Summerland, Calif., and attended Santa Barbara State Teacher’s College where he received his Master of Arts.
Before he taught at Cal Poly, Allen served as a teacher in the Navy and then as a firefighter in Summerland. He also spent time in the Air Force during World War II and worked on a “clean-up” crew by going through European villages to feed, clothe and provide shelter to those in need.
Allen also owned a welding shop from his home in Summerland, where he created ornamental welding designs in his 30’s, Blodgett-Allen said.
Allen began teaching in the Cal Poly Engineering Technology Department in 1955, and retired in 1986. The engineering technology department disbanded shortly after he left.
He and his wife met in 1978 while she was a student. They were married for 26 years and lived in Atascadero, where Allen built their home.
In 1968, Cal Poly sent him to Zanzibar in East Africa for one year, where he set up a trade school in Tanzania. Being a millwright, he taught students how to set up machinery.
He also loved woodworking and won numerous blue ribbons at the Mid-State Fair where he turned a knot of wood into a picture frame or animal, Blodgett-Allen said.
Allen also loved photography, and continued this into his retirement.
“He was a superb photographer,” Mark Cooper, a Cal Poly industrial and manufacturing engineering professor said, who raved about his artistic ability.
During his retirement, Allen also loved to spend time in the country, work in his wood shop and visit friends.
Cooper met Allen in the 1960s as a student and came back to teach alongside him in 1978.
“He was there for me through thick and thin,” Cooper said.
He emphasized Allen’s popularity and counseling abilities with students.
“I was very impressed with his caring attitude toward students.”
Allen touched the lives of thousands of students, Cooper said.
“We’ve done lots of things together to help students.”
Cooper became close friends with Allen over the years, and described him as “easy-going, quick to laugh, and a good storyteller.”
The last five years were particularly tough for Allen while battling Alzheimer’s Disease, Cooper said, when he often visited him.
Allen did not always recognize Cooper right away, “but he always remembered who I was in the end,” he said.
Cooper was able to be at his bedside when he passed, after battling the disease for several years.
“He went through a long time of suffering, and now he’s saved from that,” Cooper said.
Even with his illness, he was very helpful and congenial, Blodgett-Allen said.
“He loved company even if he didn’t know who you were,” she said.
Although Alzheimer’s dementia can sometimes lead to anger according to Blodgett-Allen, this was not true for Allen.
“He was sweet to the very end,” she said.