James Roy Allen

Dr. James Roy Allen passed away peacefully in his suite at Amica White Rock on August 24th, 2025, just three days before his 99th birthday. He was surrounded by family in his final days.

Born in Kingston Ontario to a school teacher mother and a school principal father, he was a star pupil. First tutored by his mother, followed by elementary school in various South Eastern Ontario schools as the family moved according to the need for a strong principal in the various schools. High school was KCVI, followed by an undergraduate physics degree at Queen's University.

As a youngster, weekends and the summer were always spent at Sharbot Lake where his father, his mother and his Uncle Jim ran a summer cottage, boat and sport fishing business. Here JR, as the family called him after they ditched the dreaded Junior, acquired his love of the water. He became an accomplished canoeist, and rower.

James was the eldest of four including his oldest sister Dawna (1929), followed by his brother Bob (1934) and finally his youngest sister Bonnie (1939).

At KCVI he meet his life long best friend Francis MacLaughlin. Francis introduced him to sailing, a passion for both of them throughout their lives. They also shared a great ability to spin a yarn, a love of classical music, and adventures. 

During his undergraduate degree James learned to fly, first in single engine powered aircraft and later in gliders. He and Francis also did officer training for the war. James was lucky that the war finished before he was sent to fight; Francis was even luckier as he had a free trip to Scotland just as the war ended.

After his very successful undergraduate degree, James went to Bristol University in England where he did research and published on ionizing particle tracks. Francis was also in England studying Marine Architecture. They had good adventures together including trips to Paris.

He continued his passion of flying gliders. One notable story he told was of a day with wonderful lift which he felt could have taken him anywhere. However, he felt nervous seeing London ahead of him and landed in the biggest green space available which turned out to be Windsor Great Park! Luckily, the Queen was not in residence at the time and all went well.

A later, much less lucky, flight involved a broken tow wire and a plowed field which gave James the tough choice of either landing straight ahead which would certainly wreck the club’s best Olympia Meise glider or a very risky attempt at turning 180 degrees into the landing field behind. Unfortunately, James stalled on the turn and crashed into the field. It is a wonder he survived but he did break both legs and severely shattered his ankle. By the time he recovered from his injuries he received word that his mother was ill and his father wanted him to return to Canada. His advisor told him he could write up his Ph.D. in Canada then return later to defend it. So James returned to Canada.

Back in Canada he worked for Alcan in Kingston, then Ontario Hydro in Toronto which he hated. He was far too busy to find time to complete writing up his Bristol Ph.D. He returned to Kingston to lecture at Queen's. James never applied for a job: he walked in and they gave him an offer!

Back in Kingston the MacLaughlin family continued to play a significant role in James's life. Sandy, Francis father, arranged for James to buy a share in a Lightning sailboat, Idle Hour. James began sailboat racing, no longer as crew, but now as skipper. However, even more importantly, Sandy insisted that James go to Scottish Country dancing where he met Marjorie Smith, a British doctoral student in Chemistry. 

Late night cinnamon toast at Aunt Lucy's restaurant after long days in the lab, sailing on Idle Hour, a common love of music and opera, they both knew they had found their life partner. They were married less than a year after meeting.  Marjorie always called him Jim. The couple had a brief honeymoon trip out to British Columbia which they both enjoyed tremendously.

Soon thereafter Marjorie received a scholarship back to England and the Queens Physics department head suggested to James that he needed a Ph.D. to progress in his career. So off they went back to England.

In England, James completed his second Ph.D. in Non-Newtonian fluids at Manchester University. The couple returned having a acquired a “Dragon” wooden sailboat they named “Photon” and with Marjorie pregnant with daughter Susan.

Susan was born on return to Kingston, soon followed by Max. James’ life was full of his professor career at Queen’s, skiing in the winter, sailing in the summer and photography all year long. “Quark” a C&C 27 followed “Photon” and resulted in many longer trips from Lake Huron, Manitoulin Island, down to the Thousand Islands and around Lake Ontario.

When the nest was empty, and closing in on retirement, James and Marjorie decided to start another adventurous phase of their lives. They commissioned the building of a blue water capable yacht, “Forth”, a Mirage 39 from Mirage Yachts of Montreal. The name “Forth” was a play on the fact this was their fourth sailboat but also on their plan “to go forth”. And go forth they did. Leaving Kingston shortly after James’ retirement at 65, they sailed east down the Saint Lawrence River, past PEI, the Bras d’Or Lakes, around Nova Scotia, thence down the Eastern Seaboard, entering the Intercoastal Waterway and eventually reaching Florida. From Florida they spent the next fifteen years exploring the entire Caribbean, circumnavigating it fully once and traveling up and down the main island chains from Florida to Trinidad to Columbia numerous times. Many friends and family came to share the adventure with them and they made numerous new friends ashore and afloat.

James’ timing has proved impeccable throughout his life. Marjorie and James decided to quit sailing the Caribbean and so in 2003 they purchased a house in Parksville British Columbia to be closer to their wandering children. Shortly after Forth arrived in British Columbia, James was diagnosed with cardiac issues and underwent bypass surgery in Victoria. The excellent treatment he received resulted in a full recovery.

Their new life in British Columbia centered around their house in Craig Bay, Parksville but included sailing Forth up to Desolation Sound and around the Gulf Islands. In addition, James and Marjorie’s passion for sailing had infected their son Max and his wife Jingli, resulting in numerous trips to sail in New Zealand, Fiji, Alaska and Haida Gwaii.

Marjorie slowly developed dementia after 2010. As a result, James and Marjorie moved to the recently opened Amica facility in White Rock in 2019 closer to his daughter Susan and son-in-law Doug. Again, his timing was perfect as they completed the move just before COVID swept the country and made movement impossible. James and Marjorie enjoyed several happy years at Amica. Marjorie passed two years ago. The community at Amica circled around James and supported him wonderfully after this incredibly sad event.

To the end James had an amazing recall of the precise details of his long and adventurous life. He was still learning new physics, staying abreast of the news of the day (particularly America politics!) and fluent with navigating his computer.

James is survived by his youngest sister, Bonnie Thom of Ontario, by his daughter Susan and husband Doug, by his son Max and wife Jingli, and by his grand children James and Sylvia.