Allen and I were in the same home room, I think throughout high school. I remember his face and can hear his voice as if it were yesterday. We didn't know each other very well, and he seemed like a shy guy with girls, but he did have this great way of making a face that pretty much made it clear he was quite perplexed with the immature actions of his fellow classmates. I'm sorry to see that he is gone.
Allen was a devoted member of that most exclusive of WJ cliques, the Chess Club! True, I can't recall him winning many match games our last two years, when we claimed the D.C. Area High School Chess Championship. But even fewer care about that now than did then, if that's possible.
Our real claim to fame was the Canned Food Drive. I'm still not sure how we beat all the big clubs, TWICE, but we had a blast doing it! And the memories! From the bizarre characters who would half-open their doors to the pork brains and canned octopus they unloaded on us. Allen had a face you could not refuse, and he was not afraid to knock on doors, even in dangerous, no-go neighborhoods (BCC, Whitman, Churchill). Who else but Allen would bring a can of peas to the 25th Reunion, just in case? His memory will live forever in Chess Club lore.
I reconnected with Allen in 1994, at the 25th Reunion. He discovered I was in Silver Spring working for NOAA, while he was just up the road, writing and publishing his GREEN CAR JOURNAL. We stayed in touch thereafter, meeting every month for lunch. He spoke fondly and often of his friends from WJ, and it was funny to hear we'd shared a crush on the same girl (secretly, of course). During his long and courageous battle against cancer, he still held out hope of making it to the next class reunion. That was not to be. I miss you Allen, my old friend.
Cristina Finney (Cassidy)
Allen and I were in the same home room, I think throughout high school. I remember his face and can hear his voice as if it were yesterday. We didn't know each other very well, and he seemed like a shy guy with girls, but he did have this great way of making a face that pretty much made it clear he was quite perplexed with the immature actions of his fellow classmates. I'm sorry to see that he is gone.Robert Dulaney
Allen was a devoted member of that most exclusive of WJ cliques, the Chess Club! True, I can't recall him winning many match games our last two years, when we claimed the D.C. Area High School Chess Championship. But even fewer care about that now than did then, if that's possible.Our real claim to fame was the Canned Food Drive. I'm still not sure how we beat all the big clubs, TWICE, but we had a blast doing it! And the memories! From the bizarre characters who would half-open their doors to the pork brains and canned octopus they unloaded on us. Allen had a face you could not refuse, and he was not afraid to knock on doors, even in dangerous, no-go neighborhoods (BCC, Whitman, Churchill). Who else but Allen would bring a can of peas to the 25th Reunion, just in case? His memory will live forever in Chess Club lore.
I reconnected with Allen in 1994, at the 25th Reunion. He discovered I was in Silver Spring working for NOAA, while he was just up the road, writing and publishing his GREEN CAR JOURNAL. We stayed in touch thereafter, meeting every month for lunch. He spoke fondly and often of his friends from WJ, and it was funny to hear we'd shared a crush on the same girl (secretly, of course). During his long and courageous battle against cancer, he still held out hope of making it to the next class reunion. That was not to be. I miss you Allen, my old friend.