EDMUND PAUL ALLEN

Edmund was the fifth child, and fourth son of Laura Baumgardner and Cornelius Allen. His June 7, 1898 birth in Houtzdale, PA was announced in the Houtzdale Observer, "Mr. Con Allen is delighted with a new recruit which has taken up quarters at his home, and for the present will be drilled in infantry tactics."

In the 1916 Allen Family Musical, Ed was singled out and the DuBois Courier wrote, One of the fine solos was a clarinet solo by Edmund Allen, "'Fantassie Originale.' Ed was a talented musician from the very beginning of his days with the Allen family orchestra. He not only had the talent but also the drive to become a professional musician and to try to earn his living at it. At the tender age of 20 he was immediately given the job as band master in the US Navy. After his musical Navy days that took him to Paris Ed started playing his oboe and horn in various professional orchestras and finally worked his way up to professional saxophonist with Ace Brigode's 7 Virginians. The band toured the northeast and finally settled in New York City at the Monte Carlo. There are many wonderful pictures of Ed "hanging out" with the band during these exciting days.

After ten years Ed left the professional scene in the late 1920's 's when his father summoned him home to become manager of the shoe store. Still, Ed pursued a musical career in DuBois. He formed Ed Allen's Pennsylvanians, one of the top bands in the state that received engagements in the finest auditoriums from 1927-1939. Ed also played with the Clearfield American Legion Band and the band won the State championship. From a few programs left in his scrapbox, we find that Ed played oboe in 1933 with The Chorus and Orchestra of Brookville, DuBois, Punxsutawney, Reynoldsville, Summerville. In 1939 and 1940 he played oboe with the Philipsburg Symphony Orchestra and then in 1940-41 with theDuBois Symphony Orchestra. From 1954 to 1975 Ed served as the choir director for Saint Catherine's Church in DuBois.

Ed returned to DuBois once again to live in his parents home and work in the shoe store and finally take over management with brother Ralph in 1932. In WWII years he was recalled to active duty at age 44, this time in the Army. He attended Graduate Officer Candidate School in Fort Sill, Oklahoma and became a second lieutenant and eventually made Captain and served on active duty from August 1942 to April 1946 as a Field Artillery officer.

Ed was 78 years old when he passed away in Dec 1976. All of Ed's nieces and nephews made trips for shoes to the Con Allen Shoe store - often they were free! Many remembered their bachelor uncle at the 1994 Allen reunion with a story about "Knucklehead," their term of endearment for "Uncle Ed", forever a source of wit; a man who loved to tease with a twinkle in his eye.