Obituaries: Governor Oscar Kelly 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: January 30, 1936 Winn Parish Enterprise Gov. O. K. Allen Buried Today Funeral Services Held Here At the Baptist Church Died Suddenly at Baton Rouge Tuesday Morning Funeral services for Governor O. K. Allen, native of Winn Parish, were held in Winnfield Thursday afternoon at 2 o'clock at the First Baptist Church. The remains arrived in Winnfield Thursday morning at 7:45 on a special train from Baton Rouge. Accompanying were a corps of Louisiana National guards, the Governors Colonel Staff, political leaders of the state, and state highway patrolmen and friends. About 75 cars were at the train to meet the cortege. A light snow which had fallen during the night prevented many from meeting the train. The body was carried to the First Baptist Church where it will lay in state until services in the afternoon. Three ministers, with whom the deceased was closely associated, were in charge of the services. The Rev. Dr. C. Roy Angelle of San Antonio, Texas, former pastor of the Baton Rouge Baptist Church, the Rev. Dr. J. Norris Palmer, present pastor Baton Rouge church, and the Rev. Dr. B. C. Land, pastor Winnfield Baptist Church, officiated. Governor Allen is survived by his wife and three children, O. K. Allen, Jr., Asa Benton Allen, and Mrs. Frederick Stare (Joyce Love Allen, now in Cambridge, England); two brothers, A. Leonard Allen of Winnfield, attorney and Congressman-elect, and Ira Allen of Shreveport; two sisters, Mrs. J. Ira Abrams and Mrs. A. H. Broyles of Shreveport. Dies Suddenly Death came swiftly and unexpectedly to Governor Allen. A cerebral hemorrhage with no forewarning of ill health, felled the governor as he was preparing to leave the executive mansion for his state house offices, Tuesday morning, January 28, 1936, at 9:50. He died at 10:40. Internal hemorrhage of the throat cut off his breathing and his speech and an incision was made in his throat and a tube was inserted to permit breathing. Attendants on Governor Allen in his final hour of life said that he spent that time writing notes on a pad to his wife and that he could not speak. Mrs. Allen, who was with her husband when he was stricken, was crushed with grief, but was reported bearing her sorrow with fortitude, as were the governor's two sons O. K., Jr., and Asa Benton. Governor Allen's body was taken to the state house Tuesday night where an honor guard of state militia stood watch. Thousands gathered to file past the bier just as they did five months ago for a final look at the deceased Senator Huey P. Long, lifelong friend of the governor's. The doors of the state house were closed at 9 p.m. Wednesday to permit the governor's family to spend a short while alone before the casket was brought by train to Winnfield. Pallbearers Pallbearers were close friends of the governor all from Winnfield, his home town. They were O. B. Thompson, F. E. Welch, D. C. Allen, J. N. Sowers, Harwell Allen, B. L. Anderson, A. P. Tugwell, Mack L. Branch, A. L. Smith, and George Wallace. Native of Parish Governor O. K. Allen was born in 1881 near Winnfield. His parents were regarded as substantial citizens of Winn Parish. He was the son of Asa L. Allen and Sophronia Perkins Allen who died a number of years ago. He attended the public schools of Winn Parish and later went to a normal school in Springfield, Mo., completing his education at Trinity University, Waxahatchie, Texas. Family From Ireland The Allen family has lived in Louisiana for a hundred years, originally coming from Ireland. Josiah Allen, great grandfather of the governor, first located in Georgia, then South Carolina, and finally in Louisiana, where the family settled at Flat Creek, 17 miles east of Winnfield, at a time when only five families lived in that section. When Governor Allen first started to school, there was only a log school that operated only six weeks during the summer. That was all the schooling he received until he was 12 years of age. Then citizens put up money for a regular winter school. There were no railroads in this section at that time, and at the age of 14, Governor Allen assisted his father in the operation of a freight wagon service with oxen teams from Winnfield to Columbia, the shipping center. Later he became a school teacher, a businessman, and as the community grew, Allen grew along with it until he reached the governor's chair through the aid of his lifelong friend Huey P. Long. His political career began when he was elected state senator from this district in the same campaign that Long was elected governor of the state. (I believe this is in error, as O. K. Allen served as Winn Parish Tax Assessor prior to being elected state senator - GED). He was appointed chairman of the highway commission by Long and at the end of that term was elected governor of the state. He died at the height of his political career, after a strenuous stumping campaign over the state in which election he was elected to the United States Senate for the unexpired term of Senator Huey P. Long, running until January, 1937. For some time Governor Allen has been suffering from heart trouble, but in recent months his health was regarded by his friends as improved. Besides his duties as governor, he had large oil holdings in Louisiana and Texas fields, and during his lifetime had amassed a small fortune. Bronze Casket Holds Body Governor Allen was buried in the same type of casket and the same type of vault in which the late Senator Huey P. Long was, a huge and resplendent bronze casket, described as a "casket within a casket," and said to be the only two ever sold in the south. The coffin was of such weight that it required a number of men besides the pallbearers to lift it, and has a couch- like rest for the body within an inner copper box. The interior is tufted cream satin. On the casket is the inscription, "Oscar Kelly Allen, Governor of Louisiana and United States Senator-Elect." He was attired in a tuxedo outfit. In appearance, Governor Allen was distinguished with broad shoulders on a stalwart frame topped by a heavy mass of silvery hair and a ruddy complection. He looked the part of a statesman. Floral Offerings Truck loads of gorgeous flowers from all sections of the state were brought into Winnfield Wednesday and Thursday morning, the final tributes and expressions of sympathy. (From elsewhere in the Enterprise, same edition) Winnfield Prepared For Governor Allen's Funeral The Town of Winnfield was shocked Tuesday morning when news came by telephone that Governor Allen, native of Winnfield, had died suddenly. Citizens of the town immediately began to prepare for the funeral services here Thursday. Black crepe was placed on all light posts of the town and on the pillars at both entrances of the Courthouse. The street leading to the Winnfield Cemetery was graveled. About one hundred men were put to work cleaning the cemetery. Restaurants and hotels were prepared to take care of the large crowds in the city during the day. Although the town was covered with a thin coating of ice and sleet on Wednesday morning and a small snow on Thursday morning when the funeral cortege arrived, by noon, the sun had made its appearance and most of the snow had disappeared. Thousands of people came to Winnfield Thursday to attend the last rites of Gov. O. K. Allen. Long before the funeral services the First Baptist Church was filled and hundreds of persons were standing on the streets. Thousands of dollars worth of floral offerings were brought into the city all day by train, cars, and trucks. All available parking space in town was taken and vehicles were parked in the residential sections.