THOMAS AUGUSTINE ALLEN

Tom is the second child and the oldest male child of Laura Baumgardner and Cornelius "Con" Allen of Houtzdale and DuBois, PA. It is assumed that Tom was named for his grandfather Thomas Allen who died one day after Tom was born August 28, 1893 in Houtzdale. Tom lived for a period in Clearfield when his father was the Sheriff of Clearfield County and then spent his teen years in DuBois where the family moved to build a new house and to start a family shoe store business.

In Tom's junior year of high school, Con took Tom out of classes to help operate the Con Allen Shoe Store. The Mother Superior from St. Catherine's came to Tom's rescue and insisted that Tom be allowed to finish his secondary education, which he did. After graduation Tom moved on to Washington D.C. and enrolled in Georgetown University. Tom supported himself and paid for his education by working nights at the Washington D.C. Post Office.

Tom's education was interrupted by World War I and like most of his peers, he enlisted in the Army and promptly put in for Officer Candidate School. Fortunately for Tom the war ended when he graduated from O.C.S., so he opted to join the Army Reserves. He graduated from law school in 1920 and passed the Pennyslvania bar exam. Tom then moved on to Philadelphia, PA where he opened a law office with one of his classmates from Georgetown. There they practiced law until the late twenties.

Tom then went to work for the Government in the Civil Service and was sent to Charleston, W. VA where he met and married Lucille Tomei. He was again transferred, this time to St. Louis, MO and worked at Jefferson Barracks for the Veterans Administration. He was a member of the Rating Board (the only non-medical member) which rated and evaluated all veterans for financial and medical benefits which they were qualified to receive. He was so immersed in this work that he started up a newspaper for the veterans to inform them of all the benefits they were eligible to receive. He was very active in his local veterans groups, local political group, and church activities.

Betty Jean and Sue were born in St. Louis and at the outbreak of World War II Uncle Sam called and Tom was immediately sent to Ft. Des Moines, Iowa, future home of 7000 WAC'S (Women's Army Corp.) Tom was in the JAG Corp (Judge Advocate General) and they kept him very busy with all the legals as well as working in the Intelligence Department. He was responsible for keeping tabs on all German family sympathizers across a state region. Tom rose in rank from Captain to Lt. Colonel, and he was the last Commanding Officer of Ft. Des Moines, which he closed in 1946. Tom retired after working in the legal department on an insurance company in Des Moines. He was a very successful investor in the stock and bond markets. He and Lucille returned to DuBois for their retirement years and lived on W. Long Ave. They eventually moved to the Denver area to be near their daughter and grandchildren. Only two years after they moved west Tom died at age 79 in Denver in 1971.