Charles Thomas Allen

Chuck loved all things Oregon, which made living full time at Tierra Del Mar the last 23 years of his life, an ideal residence for a man dedicated to Oregon’s history, scenery, life-style and its enthusiasm for “clean” living. Charles Thomas (“Buddy”, “Chuck”, “Chubby,” and, his favorite when introducing himself, “Up-Chuck”) Allen, 87, passed away Thursday, June 9, 2016, at the Grove and Gardens Memory Care Home, in Forest Grove, OR. Chuck was born to Charles and Velva Emmert Allen at Emanuel Hospital in Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, May 2, 1929. Brother, Ron, was born in 1932, and Gary, born in 1940. Chuck loved to tell the story his mother told him, and here it’s quoted, “‘It was an easy birth,’ mother told me. It must have been because my parents went craw fishing at St. Helens, OR, thirteen days after I was born. I have a picture of that day.” Chuck attended Portsmouth Grade School until the 5th grade, when, with the addition of brother Gary, they moved to a larger home on NE 31st Ave, off of Fremont where he enrolled at Alameda Grade School in 1940. He attended Grant High School, and was President of the student council, sang in the choir, and played left end and kicked extra points on the Grant General’s football team. In 1946 he earned momentary fame when his kick straight through the goal posts, won Grant the state championship; the opposing team Hood River, and the winning score seven to six. Because of the accuracy of the field goals he acquired the name “The Educated Toe.” During the years (1945-1947) at Grant, the armed services were recruiting young men on campus to join the military. Chuck signed with the Marines, and in the summer of his last year spent twelve weeks in training at Quantico, Virginia. If the recruit stayed in school, the Marines would eventually make the recruits officers. It was a wake-up call for Chuck. He’d found at Quantico, Marines are definitely ‘Do or Die,’ ‘Gung Ho!’ With a football scholarship awarded to Lewis and Clark College, not only did Chuck play football, but majored in business. A summer job, though, with his Uncle Howard Emmert’s Plumbing business convinced him he could make a good living in plumbing. So Chuck quit school to go into the Plumbing Apprenticeship training program. Now, he was a Marine grunt. The Korean War (1950 – 1953) was in full swing, and Chuck was called for duty with the regular Marines; he’d go in as a private. He reported for his physical - where it was determined he was pre-diabetic. The Marines asked him to refrain from sugared sodas and return in a week for another physical. With the second physical the results were the same, and he was given a medical discharge. Four years later, it was a different story. ******* Chuck and I met at Lewis & Clark in November of 1948. Kirk Dean a mutual friend at the time introduced us. Chuck wryly recorded in his autobiography; “I met Ginger at Lewis and Clark where she was majoring in religion, with a minor in socializing,” We were married September 8, 1950 at First Presbyterian Church downtown Portland, OR. He entered the Plumbing apprenticeship program in 1950, making $25.00 a week. Five years and nine days after completing the apprenticeship program, and becoming a Journeyman plumber in 1955, Chuck was drafted. His auto-bio records: “I wrote on the military form, I was a plumber, but they made me a clerk-typist.” He passed the army physical without a hitch. Son Tom was born March 1955. In June, we packed the baby and our “earthly possessions” into a small U-Haul trailer - and moved, with brother, Ron’s help to Monterey, California. Chuck served six months at Fort Ord, CA before being sent to Ft. Lewis, WA. We settled into a caretaker’s house on an estate on Lake Steilacom in Lakewood, a suburb of Tacoma, WA. The cottage is most memorable because it was cold and drafty and, in the winter rats, literally, the size of small bread boxes, worked their way into the kitchen. After 18 months at Fort Lewis, Chuck was discharged and the three of us returned to Portland. In 1957, with the help of Uncle Howard Emmert, we bought a home in North Portland. Chuck went to work as a journeyman plumber, carrying on the family tradition of the plumbing trade. Chuck’s grandfather, Jake Emmert, had owned a plumbing shop, as well. It was during this time our extended families - my mother, Faye Harlow, and my sister Bonnie and brother-in-law, Pete Taylor ,- with the encouragement of dairy- man cousin, Archie Schenck of Sandlake, OR, purchased the beach house at Tierra Del Mar – only yards from one of the most beautiful beaches along the Oregon Coast. The cabin was rather dilapidated and at first Bonnie and I thought it too much work to take on, but upon walking over the sand dune to take a look at the beach we quickly changed our minds. In 1957, the house, its furnishings, garage and a couple of tent-sized lots sold for $2950. Hard to believe, isn’t it? Terri was born in September of 1957 and two years later in August of 1959, daughter, Tami, was born. By 1960, we had out grown our small north Portland house so, with the suggestion of our friend, Kirk Dean, we bought an older home on Northeast 28th & Mason, in the Alameda district. Chuck, once again, was living in the old neighborhood. All three kids attended the same schools as Chuck: Alameda and Grant. ******* In the 1950’s, Chuck was baptized and joined the First Presbyterian Church and over the years, served a three-year term as an Elder. He was an enthusiastic father; an ever present participant in raising Tom, Terri and Tami. He took an interest in their school and church activities. We were active in square dancing and, for several years, Chuck was an assistant tour director with Ralph Friedman, author of Oregon for the Curious, leading small parties to interesting historical sights in Oregon and Washington. He rode in Cycle Oregon II, ran the Hood to Coast one year, and hiked through Haleakala Crater on Maui. Early on, he was involved in the SOLV (beach clean-up) and Adopt-a-Road programs. Together, we rafted a memorable nine days on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho. His interests extended to local fish hatchery programs and, with cousin-in-law Archie, was instrumental in introducing salmon fry into small local streams. Weekends (and a 3 month summer stretch) were spent commercial fishing with Archie in their jointly-owned dory, the Mary Mylene. Add to that list of interests: family camps at Menucha, trailer-camping, antiquing, and arrowhead hunting - back when it wasn’t considered a crime. At 69, he became infatuated, with, and for a time, avidly collected Beanie Babies, no less!!! From Mason Street, Chuck and I moved to a small ‘gentleman’s farm’ with two acres and a barn in Wilsonville in 1979. Chuck was never happier than when he was hosting a party: Halloween, BBQ’s and wreath making at Christmas. He loved the holidays. Every four years we hosted an election-issues-and-candidates party of from 12 to 15 Democrats and Republicans. ******* In 1975 on our 25th wedding anniversary, and with my mother in tow, we visited England, Scotland and France. On our 40th anniversary we made an ill-fated return to Europe, traveling to Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and England. This trip was a disaster, where everything that could go wrong on a foreign adventure did go wrong: From the journal of the trip: – “our obtuseness in languages, local customs and monies, bank holidays, European ATM machines, telephones, laundromats, postal services and petrol stations. Trouble with pay toilets, toll roads, transportation schedules and unfamiliar restaurant reservation rules and hours. All compounded by the Easter holiday, population density, autobahn Rambos, and our propensity to be on the highways during rush hours. And it rained and rained and rained. Our favorite travel destinations, however, have been in the United States: New England, the Midwest, California, Utah, Hawaii, New York City and, best of all, the Pacific Northwest. In June of 2005, we participated in an Elderhostel trip to North and South Dakota following the trail of Chuck’s heroes, Lewis & Clark. In November, 1993, after retirement and the children were on their own, we moved permanently to Tierra Del Mar, renting Tom’s beach house a half block from the ocean and across the street from the beach house bought in 1957. Chuck dabbled in light plumbing jobs for friends and neighbors, was an avid fisherman, and could be found, literally, up the creek at the fish shack in the tidewater of Sand Creek. We joined Nestucca Valley Presbyterian Church, at Pacific City, on May 10, 2001, and Chuck soon became chair of the Deacon’s. Of Chuck’s later years, before dementia overtook him, one would find him on Sunday morning greeting parishioners at the door of NVP church, singing in the choir, helping serve coffee and snacks in the meeting hall, and generally, helping where needed. By April of 2014, the wear and tear on the family as caregivers for eight years became too much, and I had to move Chuck to The Grove and Gardens Memory Care Center in Forest Grove, OR. He soon became a favorite of the personnel there. Chuck passed away June 9, 2016. He was buried with military honors at an immediate family and friend’s service on June 30, 2016 at Willamette National Cemetery; A Celebration of His Life will be held from 1:30pm to 5:30pm on Saturday, July 9, 2016 in Glenn Otto Park, 1102 E. Historic Columbia River Hgwy, Troutdale, OR 97060. A Memorial Service will be held at 1:00 p.m on Saturday, August 6, 2016 in Nestucca Valley Presbyterian Church, 35305 Brooten Rd., Pacific City, OR 97135. Desserts will be served following the memorial. A jovial reception will be held at 3:30 pm (or there abouts) at a no host get together at Twist 6425 Pacific Ave in Pacific City, - from the church turn right to the stop light and turn left towards the ocean. Twist is almost immediately on the left. In lieu of flowers: Nestucca Valley Presbyterian Church, PO Box 337, Pacific City, OR 97135 Nestucca Anglers (Rhodes Pond Fish Hatchery), PO Box 178, Hebo, OR 97122 SOLVE-solveoregon.org/donate Ginger Harlow Allen (6/15/16) P. S. In 2001, Jean Torland and I wrote a Genealogical History of the McNeel families. Because I wanted something besides statistics in the records, I sent out questionnaires requesting personal information on the lives of cousins. Here are Chuck’s answers! 2001: TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF, CHUCK: >I enjoy spending time: Working, fishing, hiking, cutting wood and cleaning up road & beach litter. >My favorite memory of my immediate family is: Craw fishing, clam digging, decorating the Christmas tree, and putting outside lights up. >The things I still want to accomplish are: Keeping healthy and fit, both body & mind, enjoy life, Ginger and other people. >My proudest moments have been: Being accepted on the Grant High School football team and contributing to a State High School Championship, being on the Grant High Executive Council, "graduating" from plumbing school, my three kids: Tom, Terri and Tami, and living at Wilsonville and having parties. >Some of my regrets are: Not continuing my education until graduating from Lewis & Clark College . . . and that I did not invest in real estate earlier. >The craziest thing I ever did was: When I was 40 years old, and Pete Taylor, Terri Allen and I took a 22 foot dory 35 miles out in the ocean to fish for tuna. And, in my 69th year, I got hooked on Beanie Babies! >Interesting places I have been: Driving the Oregon Trail, visiting Jordan Valley and our trips to France and England. >I can't wait until I: Again lose a few pounds and get back into my clothes. >The most unusual thing I ever did was: Ride a bike from Portland to Ashland (Cycle Oregon), participating in a relay run from Mt. Hood to Pacific City and a 6 day, 109 mile, raft trip down the middle fork of the Salmon River in Idaho. >I'd like to be remembered as: A service plumber who enjoyed working and meeting many interesting people. >This year (and next year, as well) I intend to: Try to be more understanding of my wife and other people, continue to exercise and drink less. >Here's my advice to the younger generations: Life is very short, enjoy everyday. Get a good education. Stay free of smoking and drugs. Keep active - body and mind. Be understanding of others.