Obituaries: Mrs. O. K. Allen, 1936, Winn Parish, LA Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** From: April 1, 1936 Winn Parish Enterprise or Winnfield News-American Funeral Rites For Mrs. O. K. Allen This Afternoon At 3:00 O'Clock, First Baptist Church; Body To Lie In State Until 2:30 Widow of Late Governor Oscar K. Allen Dies at Her Home In Shreveport Wednesday Following Long Period of Illness The body of Mrs. Oscar K. Allen, widow of the late Governor Oscar K. Allen, and who died of a sudden heart attack at her home in Shreveport shortly before seven o'clock Wednesday evening, will lie in state at the First Baptirst church here beginning at eleven o'clock this morning until two thirty o'clock this afternoon. Funeral services will be held at three o'clock at the church conducted byt he Rev. Dr. B. C. Land, pastor, assisted by the Rev. Dr. John Caylor, pastor of the Highland Baptist Church of Shreveport, and interment will be made in the O. K. Allen Memorial plot at the Winnfield Cemetery beside her husband, who died January 28, 1936, one week before taking the oath as United States Senator, to which he had been elected a few weeks before. Death came to Mrs. Allen Wednesday evening about 6:53 at her home in the Slattery Park, residential section of Shreveport, and with her were her 12 year old son, Asa Benton Allen, her private nurse and R. Poinsett Johnson, Jr, her attorney. Her older son, O. K. Allen, jr., a student at the Louisiana State University was immediately notified of his mother's death and he rushed to Shreveport Wednesday night. Her daughter, Mrs. Fredrick J. Stare of Madison, Wis., the former Miss Joyce Love Allen, will because of illness be unable to attend the funeral rites. Other surviving relatives are two brothers, Benton Love, Paris, Texas, and Frank Love, Wichita Falls, Texas, and five sisters, Miss Carrie Love, Shreveport, and employee of the state motor vehicle licensing bureau; Mrs. Sallie Love Peele, Fort Worth, Texas; Mrs. G. D. Scott, Yowell, Texas; Mrs. M. G. Neathery, Vernon, Texas, and Mrs. G. T. Scroggs, Norman, Okla. Congressman A. Leonoard Allen, brother of the late Governor Allen, when notified of Mrs. Allen's death, telegraphed that he would leave Washington immediately and reach here in time for the funeral. Ill Health For Years For several yeears, before and since the death of her husband, Mrs. Allen has been in failing health, and although she had traveled to various health resorts and enlisted specialists improvement was only temporary in each instance. For a time after the death of the late Governor Allen, Mrs. Allen made her home in Winnfield, but in November 1936 moved to Shreveport. A typical American wife and mother, Mrs. Allen was only indirectly interested in public life. She gave expressions of her interest in quiet and unassuming ways by doing those things in the home and in the church that gave her much joy and satisfaction. She was interested in politics in that it touched her life through her late husband, and she seldom entered into social activities. Met Husband At Church Mrs. Allen met her husband at church in March, 1912 at Paris, Texas, where he was employed as bookkeeper for a construction company. She was Miss Florence Love. They were married eight months later and soon thereafter came to Winnfield to make their home and where they lived until in 1928 he was named chairman of the Louisiana Highway Commission by the late Senator Huey P. Long, then governor. Mrs. Allen's father, Capt. H. B. Love of Paris, Texas, died when she was a young girl. Her mother died when she was a year old. The late "first lady" took no active part in politics for public life. She once said that from the time her husband first ran for public office, the Winn Parish assesorship, soon after their marriage, the only part she ever took in his campaigns and affairs was to entertain friends. Philanthropies Of the Baptist faith, holding her membership with the First Baptist Church of Winnfield, Mrs. Allen manifested a great interest in the affairs of the churhc and its progress. Her philanthropies in this include the installation of a memorial organ, baptistry, and choir section to the local church during the early part of last year at a cost of several thousand dollars. Then she had set up the O. K. Allen Memorial Foundation, Incorporated, that provided for the investment of $ 25,000, the interest on which is to be used for the perpetuation of the memorial plot in the local cemetery, the baptistry and assist in paying the salary of an organist. Her Favorite Scripture Passage Included in the rites will be read the 121st Psalm, Mrs. Allen's favorite passage of scripture, and to which attention was directed by Mrs. Stare in a telephone conversation from her home in Madison, Wis. Mrs. Allen is said to have received great comfort in this Psalm that promises great safety to the godly, who put their trust in God's protection. Pallbearers will include Senator James A. Noe, of Monroe, A. P. Tugwell, Col. Harry B. Nelson of Baton Rouge, Harvey Broyles of Shreveport, J. L. Bilbray of Many, Col. R. L. Gray of Zwolle, Harry (Harvey?) L. Peltier of Thibodeaux, F. E. Welsh, O. B. Thompson, Lyndon Allen, Walter W. Allen, D. C. Allen, and Lt. Gov. Earl K. Long of Winnfield.