Allen (nee: Guthrie) Nancy Jane
June 21, 1919 - July 5, 2005
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our wonderful mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, Nancy Jane Allen.
Mum was born in St. Joseph’s Hospital in Comox and passed away of Leukemia shortly after her 86th birthday. Mum was from a pioneer Comox Valley family, the second daughter and fourth child of Captain Patrick Hugh and Ella Mary Guthrie. Mum grew up on a farm on Guthrie Road, named after her family, in Comox. She attended school in Comox and played on the senior girl’s basketball team, but it was Fine Arts in which she excelled. Shortly after graduation on her 17th birthday she traveled to San Francisco with her Uncle Willy to attend the California School of Fine Arts and took pottery, painting, drawing and weaving. In March 1942, Mum joined the Ordnance Corps of the Army in Esquimalt and was soon transferred to Toronto to take a drafting course. After the course was completed, she was transferred back to the Engineer’s Department at Work Point in Victoria where she met her husband-to-be, Len Allen, and they were married on September 8, 1945. They then moved to Courtenay, where Dad and Mum started Courtenay Stove and Sheet Metal Works. Mum was a member of the Eastern Star and was involved in the Senior Citizen’s Association and the arts community, all in the Comox Valley. She loved her family, the outdoors, camping, fishing, pottery, painting and her garden.
Mum will be sadly missed by her children: Robert Allen (Karen Lea), Sechelt; Cathy Watts, Nanaimo; Greg Allen (Gayle), Campbell River; and Margot Manly (Conrad), Mill Bay. She is also survived by eight grandchildren, one great-grandchild, two sisters: Effie Bird of Nanaimo and Jean Greig (Jim) of Nanoose, sister-in-law Jean Guthrie of Comox, and numerous nieces and nephews.
Mum was predeceased by her husband Len in 1997, her parents and two brothers, Patrick and David.
A Celebration of Mum’s Life will be held at 1:00pm on July 14, 2005 at the Evergreen Senior’s Lounge at the Florence Filberg Centre at 411 Anderton Avenue in Courtenay. In lieu of flowers, please make any donations to Mum’s favorite charity, the BC Lung Association, P.O. Box 34009 Stn. D, Vancouver, BC V6J 9Z9, words of condolence can be sent to Robert Allen, Box 607, Sechelt, BC V0N 3A0 or to robert_allen@dccnet.com
The Allen family.