Beth Allen

Our Mother, Wife, Aunt, Grandma Honey, Sister, and Dear Friend Beth Raiford Allen left this earthly plane on March 13th, 2023. She passed peacefully in her sleep at home at the age of 77 years young. M. ‘Beth’ Allen was born December 3, 1945, in Spur, Texas. As the second daughter to Vivian and Douglas Raiford, Beth joined her older sister, Joni, as their young family traveled extensively for Douglas’ job as an electrical lineman throughout the deserts of Southern California. When tragedy struck at a young age with the untimely loss of their father in an accident, Vivian, by then an accomplished seamstress, re-married in 1965 to Lee Long. In the process, Beth and Joni gained two step - siblings, Connie and Rick Long. Growing up in the Ontario, CA community, our beautiful Beth attended Chaffey High School, where she had a strong interest in the Arts. An accomplished painter and poetry writer early in life, she put her paintbrushes and poetry down when she married Galen Yingst in 1966 and a year later gave birth to their daughter, Gretchen, in 1967. That same year, her step - sister, Connie, passed suddenly from Hodgkins Lymphoma, leaving behind a widower, Joseph Allen, USN CPO, and two young daughters, Donell and Tina. As Beth’s marriage to Galen ended in 1972, Joe and Beth’s relationship deepened and what started as a sincere friendship turned romantic. This romance blossomed into marriage in 1974, when Joe and Beth blended their family and were subsequently blessed with a son, Darin, born in 1977 in Hawaii while Joe was stationed in Pearl Harbor. Immediately after marrying, Joe and Beth were thrilled to adopt each other’s children formally, all taking the surname Allen. For the next 28 years, Beth and Joe nurtured their loving family predominately in the Hemet, CA community until his untimely passing from lung cancer in 2002. As a career Navy Veteran, Joe went on to work for many years after his 20 years serving his country, but his passion for his country never waned and was shared by Beth and their extended family and friends. Before marrying Joe, Beth was a driven career woman, which was a challenging path at times as she paved her way in the real estate industry in the 70’s and 80’s. She started working for Red Carpet Realty in Ontario, CA while still in high school, where her mentor saw an innate aptitude and started giving her more responsibility beyond her title as a receptionist. Many late nights were spent with Gretchen playing on an unplugged typewriter while Beth worked tirelessly to make a name for herself and earn enough to provide for them both. This internal drive sustained her throughout her 44 - year real estate career as she eventually moved into residential lending, where she was an award-winning branch manager, specializing in new-home construction and VA lending. As one of the leading experts in her field for VA lending, agents, and lenders from around the country would call her for assistance, allowing thousands of deserving Veterans to enjoy home ownership. Fueled by her love for Joe and her respect for his service, serving Veterans was her calling and her passion. With Joe’s passing, she found herself newly single in the beginning of the digital age, when chat rooms were becoming a way to meet people in communities far and wide. As her chat room social groups grew, she met Candelario ‘Candy’ Rodriguez, aka ‘Candyman’. Also a Navy Veteran, Candy had profound respect for Joe as well as Beth, and what started out as friendship eventually blossomed into a romantic relationship that has flourished for nearly twenty years. With Candy being a gifted musician and an adept motorcyclist, Beth found herself on a new path full of adventure. In retirement, Beth was able to accompany Candy on regular fun runs and multiple live music shows, but also became enthralled with his commitment to the Patriot Guard Riders. The SoCal PGR family, with Candy already a member in good standing, quickly adopted Beth, aka ‘Sweet B’, and when the SoCal PGR family called for administrative help, Beth answered the call. With that same internal drive and passion that had sustained a successful lending career, Beth applied her full energy to every mission that the SoCal PGR attended. It was her honor and her privilege to serve the families of these brave men and women who gave their life for our freedom, and she did so with the utmost in compassion and professionalism. From the entire SoCal PGR family, she will be sorely missed. As her family celebrates her life and her legacy, they ask that you remember Beth for some of her most endearing attributes; Her ability to see the best in everybody, her love of a great cheeseburger, and her enduring love of animals including her sweet dogs that are waiting for her at the rainbow bridge - Hobbit, Wicket and Frodo. Her most recent fur baby, Heidi, will undoubtedly bring comfort to Candy in this difficult time. We will always celebrate her contagious laugh, her uninhibited dance moves, her limitless positivity, and her memorable karaoke ballads. One of her happy places in her rich and fulfilling life was the 37’ Bayliner Contessa power boat she shared with Joe in San Diego. She had a very personal relationship with God and had accepted Jesus Christ into her heart in Hawaii at The First Southern Baptist Church of Ewa Beach with Pastor Bill Sanders. It is our belief that Joe and Bill were there to personally welcome her home. In addition to her four children, sister Joni Hines and life partner Candy, she is survived by seven grandchildren: Keven and Daniel Witty (Donell and Jim Witty) Brandi and Shane Cecil (Tina and Perry Cecil), Robert and Hunter Wilcox (Gretchen and Graham Wilcox), and Dylan Allen (Darin and Betsy Allen). She is also survived by four great-grandchildren: Alexis and Logan Witty (Keven), and Luca and Lorenzo Cerretelli (Brandi). In addition, just as Beth was blessed to find eternal love twice, her daughters also followed suit, so she is also survived by Ed Arvin (Donell), Brian Brown (Tina) and Bruce Boyce (Gretchen). On December 7th, 2022, she was able to stand and witness her son, Darin, marry the love of his life, Betsy, with the same diamond given to her by Joe. She was preceded in death by her ex-husband Galen, her husband Joe, her son-in-law Jim Witty, her mother Vivian, her father Doug, and her brother-in-law Walt, along with dear Aunts, Uncles, Nephews, Nieces, In-Laws, Cousins, and Dear Friends. If Heaven has a card room surely they are all there, enjoying Pepsi and Pinochle. With God’s grace, we will all one day be able to pull up a chair. Should you be inspired to honor Beth’s memory, the family kindly suggests making a tribute donation to the PGR in her name at https://www.patriotguard.org, an all - volunteer 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. We loved with a love that was more than love | “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe