Ivan Eugene Allen died Monday May 21, 2012 at his home in Lake Jackson, Texas at the age of 89. As a minister for the United Methodist Church, he served churches in northwest and central Texas. He retired in Childress, Texas before moving to Lake Jackson, Texas.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. at the First United Methodist Church in Childress on Saturday, May 26, 2012.

Burial to follow at 4:00 p.m. in Heart Cemetery about a mile south of Booker, Texas.

Family visitation will be held the evening before at Johnson Funeral Home on Friday, May 25, 2012 at Johnson Funeral Home from 6 – 8 pm.

A memorial service will be held at Chapelwood United Methodist Church in Lake Jackson, Texas on Saturday June 2, at 10:30 a.m.

Ivan, the second child of Ivan and Aletta McDevitt Allen, was born September 25, 1922 on the family farm southeast of Booker, Texas, where he grew up. Known to family and friends as Eugene Allen, in second grade the teacher needed to distinguish between three students named Eugene, so his school records were listed with the name Ivan E. Allen. He graduated from Booker High School in May 1940 and enrolled in Texas Technological College in Lubbock, Texas that fall as a Mechanical Engineering student and also enrolled in the Engineer Unit of the Reserve Officer Training Corp (R.O.T.C.). In the fall of 1942, he joined the Army Reserve to continue in the ROTC program. That same fall, he made a commitment to Christ and became a member of the First Methodist Church in Lubbock, Texas.

Ivan served on active duty in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1945. He returned to his home at Booker to operate the family farm, a commitment he had made to his mother. He transferred his church membership to the Methodist Church in Booker and became an active member of the church, where he met Miss Helen Ball. After a few months of dating they were married July 25, 1945.

After a honeymoon in Colorado, Helen and Ivan moved into the family farm home where they raised three children: Leta Ruth, Charles Roy, and Roger Keith. In 1947, he used the electrician training he obtained during his military service to bring electricity to the family farm. On the farm he grew wheat, grain sorghum, and corn. He also ran a small dairy and raised chickens. In the late 1950s Ivan began to feel the need to be more involved in Christian ministry beyond the local church. He felt the call to enter the pastoral ministry of the Methodist Church and told his District Superintendent. In January 1960 he moved with his family to his first appointment at Morse, Texas. He enrolled in Panhandle A & M College at Goodwell, Oklahoma in 1960 and obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics in June of 1962. From 1960 to 1963, he also attended a Course of Study School at Perkins School of Theology during the summer. He was ordained Deacon in the Northwest Texas Conference of the Methodist Church in June of 1962 and ordained Elder in June 1964.

Ivan served 28 years as a pastor with appointments in Morse, Childress, New Deal, Sunray, Stinnett, Sweetwater, Munday, and White Deer, Texas. For 12 of these years he served as the Conference Statistician for the Northwest Texas Conference. Under his leadership the conference made its first inroads into the computer age. He was active in the Lions Club in most of the communities where he lived. On June 1, 1988, he retired and moved with Helen to Childress, Texas where they remained active in the First United Methodist Church. He served as the chaplain for Hospice at Childress Regional Medical Center. He participated in Emmaus and Kairos. Ivan continued to live in Childress until February 2009, when he moved to Lake Jackson, Texas to be near his son Roger Keith and his wife, Neeta.

He was preceded in death by his wife Helen, who died in July 2003, after 58 years of marriage. He was also preceded in death by his parents Ivan and Aletta of Booker, Texas; brother Frank and sister-in-law Sally Allen of Houston, Texas; brother Leland Allen of Albuquerque, New Mexico; and sister Harriett Strickland of Amarillo, Texas.

He is survived by his brother R. D. and wife Jane Allen of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; three sisters in Texas: Mamie Agler of Irving; Effie Townsend of Copperas Cove; Dorothy Tate of Austin; one sister-in-law Dorothy Allen of Albuquerque New Mexico; daughter Leta Ruth Loyd and husband Roger Loyd, of Durham, North Carolina; two sons in Texas, Charles Roy and wife Sanjuana Allen, of San Antonio and Roger Keith and wife Neeta Allen of Lake Jackson; seven grandchildren, seven great grandchildren; and a host of nieces and nephews.

Memorials may be sent to First United Methodist Church, 201 Avenue D NE, Childress, TX 79201, or Texas Lions Camp, P O Box 290247, Kerrville, TX 78029-0247.