John L. Allen, Jr. died peacefully on December 27 at Kaplan House in Danvers. He was born in Boston on May 12, 1940 to Marian Emerson Allen and John L. Allen. He will be lovingly remembered by his wife of 62 years, Lee T. Allen and his children; Elizabeth T. Allen (Chris Foster) of San Diego, CA, Charles E. Allen (Melynn) of Ipswich and Nicholas L. Allen (Monica) of Bend, OR. He is also survived by four grandchildren; Chelsea, Claire, Harper and July Allen; two sisters, Lindsay Allen of NYC and Melissa Heath of Asheville, NC as well as two beloved nieces and their families. He was predeceased by his sister, Wendy A. Sicre of Kalamazoo, MI, and his nephew, Alejandro Sicre.
John graduated from The Taft School in Watertown, CT and held both a BA’64 and an MA’69 in Architecture from Yale University. As an architect he saw the possibilities in restoring historic properties that might otherwise have been demolished. As a developer he formed MyersonAllen and Co in Boston. His company received local, state and federal awards for redevelopment of economically obsolete buildings in MA, ME, OH, VA and NC.
Growing up in Marblehead fueled his love of the ocean and led him to teach sailing there and in Camden, ME where his grandfather, the founder of Camp Chewonki in Wiscasset, lived. All of his summers were spent as a camper at Chewonki and he later became a director of the Chewonki Foundation.
John cared deeply about Manchester and served on several boards including the Historic District Commission and the Planning Board. He also coached Manchester Youth Soccer and never forgot to mention the undefeated season of one of his teams.
JA, as he was called by many, never lost his dry sense of humor and even near the end of his life he had us quietly laughing. The humor was often so subtle that it was unrecognized but those who knew him will remember it.
He was very proud of his children’s / grandchildren’s accomplishments. While various injuries and illnesses kept him at home for the past several years, he followed their careers and adventures with great interest and joy.
A family celebration of John’s life will be held on the ocean next summer.
