Ernest Wilson Allen, Sr., 89, died Wednesday, November 1, 2017, at his residence on Woods Circle.
Funeral services will be conducted Saturday at 11:00 A.M. at First United Methodist Church with Rev. Chip Hunter and Rev. Frank Smith officiating. Burial will follow in Rose Hill Cemetery. The family will visit with friends Saturday from 9:30 – 11:00 A.M. in the church atrium. Oakes & Nichols Funeral Directors are assisting the family with arrangements.
Born February 10, 1928 in Columbia, TN he was the sixth child of nine born to William James Allen, Sr., and Gladys Henrietta Wilson Allen.. He attended McDowell Elementary, Whitthorne Jr. High School, and graduated in 1946 from Columbia Central High School. He attended Columbia Business College, Martin Methodist College, Belmont College, and received a B.S. degree from Middle Tennessee State College in 1954, where he received the Social Sciences Award. In 1962, he received a M.A. in Educational Administration from George Peabody College in Nashville.
Mr. Allen taught at McDowell for two years before going to Columbia Military Academy as a teacher and coach for eleven years. He left teaching and went to work for Monsanto in Columbia as supervisor of Training and Communications. Later he served as Educational Director for the Tennessee Higher Education Commission and for eleven years was in personnel and safety for Consolidated Aluminum Corporation in Columbia. He later worked for Columbia State Community College in the Job Training Partnership Act as a field representative. From 1985 – 1990 he was Director of Business for the Maury County Public Schools and from 1990 – 1995 was supervisor of transportation before retiring. He was a life-long member of First United Methodist Church where he taught Sunday school there for over 50 years.
Survivors include his wife of sixty-five years, Virginia Wynn Allen of Columbia, TN; son, Ernest Wilson (Lynnette) Allen, Jr. of Columbia, daughters, Mary Virginia “Ginna” (Carl) Campbell and Martha Ann Covington of Franklin, TN; grandchildren, Wes Edwards and Everett Covington of Nashville, TN, Wilson Paul Allen and Reid Harrison Allen of Columbia, TN, Lauren Elizabeth Covington of Smyrna, TN, Katie Edwards (Kevin) Price of Chicago, IL; sisters-in-law, Lorene McCord Allen, Wynelle Ellis Allen, Pulaski, TN, Dorothy Wynn Byassee, Nashville; brother-in-law, Clyde Menness Wynn, St. Louis, MO; and many beloved nieces and nephews.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a son-in-law, Stephen Covington; sisters, Mary Frances Gladney, Martha Elizabeth Newby, Annie Walker Bailey, Gladys Henrietta Clymer, Lura Marguerite Allen; and brothers, William James Allen, Jr., Evan Marshall Allen, Sr., and Rev. Paul Faucette Allen, Sr.
Active pallbearers will be grandsons: Wes Edwards, Everett Covington; grandnephews: Jerry Allen Newby, James Newby, John Newby, Athens, AL, Brian Fitzgerald, Columbia and nephew: David Allen, Franklin, TN, and Kevin Price, grandson-in-law, Chicago, IL.
Honorary pallbearers include Evan Allen of Columbia, TN, Ralph Allen of Culleoka, TN, Cliff Allen of Columbia, TN, Paul Allen, Jr. of Pulaski, TN, Ronnie Allen of Columbia, TN, Johnny Fox of Hohenwald, TN, Allen Bailey of Atlanta, GA, Mark Bailey and James Matthew Bailey of Mobile, AL, Kenneth Wayne Batts, Jr., Columbia, TN, Madison Sowell of Bowling Green, KY, Sam Byassee of Chapel Hill, NC, Randy Wynn of St. Louis, MO, Don Wynn of St. Louis, MO, Randy Stamps of Hendersonville, TN, Will Stamps of Knoxville, Jim Howell of Nashville, TN, Don Waller of Columbia, TN, Gregory Daimwood of Columbia, TN, Mark Kennedy of Chattanooga, TN, Gregory Jones of Lewisburg, TN, Martin Puryear of Greensboro, NC, Sue Gunn of Goodlettsville, TN, Patsy Parker of Cape Girardeau, MO, Rose Ann Anderson Bishop of Murfreesboro, TN, Michelle Anderson of Murfreesboro, TN, Billy Hobbs, Whitehouse, TN. Dr. Stephen Simmons, Cody Johnson, Bob Sweeney, Bill & Robin Johnson, Page Chamberlain, Steve & Melanie Pendergrass, Douglas Burton of Columbia TN, and the Central High graduation class of 1946, the Retirees of Maury County School System’s Central Office, Martin Methodist College Alumni Association, George Peabody College Alumni Association, Retirees of Conalco, Columbia Jaycees, The Mule Town Rookies, Maury County International Toastmasters, First United Methodist Church, Ayers Whitney Fellowship Class and the Wednesday morning Bible Study members.
Memorials may be made to the Ayers Whitney Fellowship Class at First United Methodist Church or to the Ernest & Virginia Allen Scholarship at Martin Methodist College, 433 West Madison Street, Pulaski, TN 38478. Condolences may be extended online at www.oakesandnichols.com.
