Christopher Allan

wife of 58 years, following complications from Parkinson’s disease. Chris was born in Ypsilanti,

MI, on May 26, 1940, to Alexander and Annie Davidson Allan. He was raised in Eaton Rapids,

MI, (the only Eaton Rapids on Earth) where he claimed that he was not much of an athlete but

competed successfully in extemporaneous speaking contests.

Chris graduated from Albion College magna cum laude and the University of Michigan Medical

School cum laude. He was elected to six national scholarship societies: National Honor

Society (high school), Phi Eta Sigma (college freshmen men), Beta Beta Beta (college biology),

Phi Beta Kappa (college), Alpha Omega Alpha (medical school), and Phi Kappa Phi (graduate

school). In medical school he conducted research under an American Cancer Society research

fellowship.

At Albion College in 1961 he met the love of his life, the beautiful Mary Ellen Watts, and they

were married in 1965. They were both Phi Beta Kappa graduates and trilingual. She taught

French and Spanish at the high school and junior high level, while he was president of his

college Spanish Club and French book club.

After an internship in Grand Rapids, MI, he spent 4 years in residency in anatomic and clinical

pathology at the Mayo Clinic, followed by service in the United States Air Force in Montgomery,

AL. It was there he met Ray Graves, who was in the process of establishing the Pathology

Department at the new Northside Hospital in Atlanta. Chris spent his 27 year career practicing

pathology at Northside. He also practiced pathology for several years at Scottish Rite Hospital

following its opening. Scottish Rite presented him with the Wood Lovell Award. He was the

first Jr. Medical Association of Atlanta Board Member under MAA President Newton Turk, a

member of the Atlanta Clinical Society, and was President of both the Atlanta Society of

Pathologists and the Georgia Society of Pathology.

Despite their importance, professional accomplishments do not fully explain who he was as a

person. Chris had myriad interests including languages (having published papers in English,

French, and Spanish); music (honoring his father’s heritage by learning to play bagpipes in his

forties and then playing for ten years with the Atlanta Pipe Band); cartoons; poems; sculpture

in wood, stone, and clay; gardening; cooking; travel; and fly fishing (spending countless hours

bouncing around North Georgia in an old International Scout in search of the perfect spot).

Chris also served as a Webelos leader for both Brian and Roger.

Examples of published writing include “How to Lose Your Hearing Without Losing Your Mind,”

presented in Spanish to the Congreso Médico Nacional in Costa Rica, and a paper in French,

“From a Place of Destruction to a Place of Life and Hope,” in “La Dépêche du Midi.” Not to be

overlooked, other examples of published writing can be found in the “Korn Dunker”, the

newsletter of the Cohuttas Chapter of Trout Unlimited.

He was an avid collector of art, books, North Carolina pioneer gold coins, and fine wine (and

consumer of the latter). He was a member of the Commanderie de Bordeaux and often spared

little expense in his efforts to find the best inexpensive bottle of wine. He and Mary Ellen were

members of the Atlanta Toulouse Sister Cities Society and established long-term friendships

with their hosts as well as those whom they hosted on associated visits.

Chris is survived by his wife Mary Ellen, sons Brian (Amy) and Roger, grandchildren Alex,

Ashley, and Kade Allan, sisters Julie (Jack) Lawler and Alexanne (Richard) Whitney, brother K.C.

Allan, and numerous nieces, great nieces, nephews, and great nephews.

A memorial Service will be Saturday, August 19, 2023 at 2 o'clock at H.M. Patterson and Son, Arlington Chapel, 173 Allen Rd., NE, Sandy Springs, GA 30328.