Colette O'Brien - Allen

Colette passed onto what comes next on Saturday, the morning of the 12th of September, 2026 after a short period of hospitalization. She was pre-deceased by her husband Michael by two days. Also by her beloved brother Claude, her son Brien, grandsons Will, Aiden and Andrew. She is survived by her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren….(there are a lot of us so bear with me): Daughter Sylvie (husband Alan), grandchildren Jason (wife Ashley), Geoffrey (wife Marthe) and Donovan; and greatgrandchildren Jaxon, Teagan, Ellie, and RaeLynn. Son Marc (wife Darlene), and grandchildren Tony (wife Renita), Holly (husband Adam) , Sean; and great grandchildren Max, Luke, Miller, and Hudson. Son Ian (wife Debbie); Son Kieran; step (she never called them “step” and referred to herself as their “spare mother” because all the parents in the extended family worked hard to make all the children feel that they belonged in all the houses) Daughter Brandy Allen, Sons Brendan (wife Robyn) and Rick (wife Tonja), and Daughters Joan and Kathleen (husband Dan) and grandchildren Jackie, Allie, Hannah, Michael, Julie, Margaret, Meagan, Ashlyn and Rylan. Son Eric. Belle Soeur Francoise Lemoine.

Mourn Less the loss than You Celebrate the Life of Colette, for she Lived with a Capital L.

She was a formidable woman who blazed a trail for her family, her employees, her clients and her friends her entire life. Born in Paris, France in 1935 as Colette Francoise Levy to Raymond and Henriette Levy. She had an older sister who died as an infant, and a younger brother, Claude, who predeceased her by just over a year.

The elemental force of nature that was Colette displayed her will to live and grit from a very early age. From when the Germans invaded France , and especially in the months after June 22, 1940, when the armistice separated France into occupied and unoccupied zones, it because dangerous for Jews to be visible. So her father arranged for the family to go into hiding. Five year old Colette was taken to southern France to be smuggled across the border into Vichy France where her father had started to set up a hiding place for the family. He had worked to conceal identities by using Colette’s mothers maiden name, Reignieau, among other things. Colette was smuggled to the border by a “passeur” and delivered her to the designated place of crossing where she was sent on the path, into the woods when the border crossing did not go as planned. Colette pushed forward (as she always did in life) and followed the trail to meet her father, and the Passeur was arrested by the German Gestapo and shot. She spent the next 4 years in hiding with her family, in first a hotel then a rented house in LePuy in southern France. Later in life, in 1987, she took her son and husband to see the house and told the story for the first time to us, showing the hiding place under the kitchen and the tunnel that led through to the walled road across from the house. The Gestapo searched for hidden Jews, the neighbors were arrested and transported, but Colette and family were not found. In 1944 after Paris was liberated a 9 year old Colette rode bicycles up the US Army MSR (the Red Ball Express Highway) to Paris with her father as he sought to reclaim the family home in Paris.

After the war, as France rebuilt, the family did as well and their name was changed to Lemoine, as her father sought to avoid the antisemitism that was still present in post-war France. She finished her education at home, and first year of college at Mt. Holyoke in Massachusetts (which marked her first plane ride, in an Air France Constellation, which became her favorite aircraft, next to Concorde). She returned home because her father had fallen ill, and needing work she took a job with the US Air Force at Orly Air Base. She worked for the wing commander coordinating personnel and events including the movements of the Sky Blazers squadron (a European theater flight demonstration team that was the precursor to the USAF Thunderbirds). She often spoke of her flights in T-33s, F-86s and her first supersonic flights in the F-100 Super Sabre and F-102 Delta Dagger (stories of which most assuredly impressed her sons). She met her first husband, Willis (Bill) Lautzenhiser, a USAF NCO specializing in photo-intelligence around the world and worked on U-2 intelligence gathering missions in Pakistan among other assignments. They had 3 children, Sylvie, Marc and Eric. They sailed to the United States in 1959 to be stationed at Seymore Johnson AFB, and she very quickly moved to Atlanta, pregnant with her 3rd child, to live first with Bills parents then in a house they purchased on Empire Blvd in Atlanta. She then sought then to find employment. She found a career….a new and compelling purpose in life.

In 1960 she approached the manager of the Air France office in Atlanta and informed him that he needed her talents in the office, and he hired her despite not having a budget for it (because who could say no to her?). She rose quickly from receptionist to representative and events coordinator becoming an integral part of Air Frances marketing in the Southeast United States. Everyone in the airline industry knew her. She organized tours and coordinated groups and travel agents acting as an Ambassador for Air France to the general public that was just becoming used to the idea of air transport across the oceans. She helped pave the path to that becoming normal, as we know it today. She was involved in one of the great tragedies in Atlanta history when she helped put together a tour of Europe for the Art Association of Atlanta, which was seeking to acquire display pieces for the new museum and add to the culture of the growing metropolis of Atlanta. She onboarded the group, in Atlanta, onto a Boeing 707 (the first international passenger flight from Hartsfield) . A few days before the end of the trip her boss told her he would take her place escorting the group home from Paris to Atlanta on the return trip. Air France flight 007 crashed on takeoff from Orly Airport in Paris with only one survivor. That day she reported to the office (as described by Atlanta columnist and writer Celestine Sibley in her book) to take the reins and, joined by Atlanta mayor Ivan Allen, and Sibley and others fielded calls from families of the passengers (which included a large part of Atlanta’s cultural leaders and prominent citizens, including the parents of Colette’s closest friend in Atlanta) having to inform them of the fate of their loved ones. Colette never completely got over the survivors guilt and often stopped at the Rodin and the mobile at the High Museum to reflect.

Colette married Gene O’Brien in 1964, adding Genes children Brien, Joan, Brendan and Kathleen to the growing prototype for the Brady Bunch into which her family had grown, then having Ian and Kieran with Gene. Her life with Gene was filled with passion and travel and raising children and his entrepreneurial streak inspired her to elevate her business life, which he supported and in which he participated actively. In 1983 Colette started Alliance Travel in Atlanta and continued her journey in life, growing the business with Gene until his passing in 1990, and, as always, from the beginning and until now, with Sylvie as not just her daughter but her most trusted associate for the entire period. Daughter Kathleen and Sons Ian and Kieran also worked for periods of time with her at the agency. Colette’s clients became her friends..her dearest friends. During the period after Genes passing her great friends Jerry Greenbaum and John Williams were instrumental in helping her transition the business as she pushed forward again and she was always grateful to them for this.

After Genes death, she met Dr. Michael Allen, on an airline flight, appropriately enough. They synched immediately, married in 1993 and shared 32 years together, as they traveled and lived a happy life together, devoted to each other, appreciating each others company until the very end.

From across the United States, and indeed the world, travel professionals knew, respected, feared and loved Colette. She was recognized throughout the industry as a consummate professional upon whom her clients and friends could rely to maximize their travel enjoyment and efficiency. Her clients WERE her friends. She loved them, even the ones at whom she was angry for not listening or resisting her input. Her travels around the world with her clients were famously luxurious, fascinating and memorable for all. Her children benefitted from this as well, spending their summers in Europe with relatives and travelling very well long into adult life due to her connections and experience. Her children also learned to do as she did and every time we would stay at the Bristol, or the Dukes, or Raffles, or the Peninsula, or the Lowell….there were expectations from her about site inspections and accurate reporting so she could keep current. The pilots of Concorde stayed at her house when they came through Atlanta on charters. The heads of major hotel groups lunched privately with her at the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo, and at the Ritz in London and other places where they sought to impress and persuade her into sending her elite business. Her children met Ambassadors, executives Dukes and would-be Kings (literally) because of the opportunities she provided. She knew what was going on in the places her clients went, and with the airlines on which they flew, with the travel providers worldwide upon whom she relied to take care of her clients. Her last email sent on Wednesday before she fell ill was to a client about something she had arranged for her in Paris on her upcoming trip. 91 years old, 66 years in the travel business, taking care of her friends to the last moments.

Her children did not suffer for this life she led….she was Maman…THE Maman…..she was the manager of the home….she was a mother who stayed up to 1am to teach her son long division, she went to little league football games (that she found barbaric) and worked the concession stand. She cooked breakfasts, rolled strawberry cakes and served the most amazing meals. French style, served at 8 or 9pm, with good china and silver, and expectations of propriety. She regularly worked 18 hour days, between office and home, for the entire 29 years that she raised her children. Certainly justifying sending us off to Europe each summer to spend with family (…quell horreur to be educated thusly!). She gave her children opportunity, education, culture, awareness and made us all understand about the fire-in-the-belly that drove her. The attitude and ethos that she sought to instill in all of her children. She also was not reticent with the shoe. She said French Mamans will enforce their will with the shoes, and she informed her daughters-in-law of the necessity of using the shoe (as long as it was at least a Ferragamo) early and often.

Colette lives on in the things that her children, friends and loved ones do that she informed and taught. Her example will endure….. and though she was far from perfect…..she was certainly possessed of faults, as all are, the good she brought to her world will continue to shine through the generations.

A Celebration of her Life will be held at H.M. Pattersons and Sons in Brookhaven on Saturday, 26 September from 12noon-2pm. Service starts at 1:30. Anyone who wishes to say a few words is invited to share. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to the Fur Kids of Atlanta, Diabetes Foundation, or Tunnels to Towers.

Afterward family and dear friends will be invited to gather at The Fishmarket (a decades long favorite) at 265 Pharr Rd NE ATL GA 30305 in Buckhead from 2pm to 5pm, to tell stories and laugh and remind ourselves how tough she was by sharing hors d’ouvres and Campari cocktails with those willing to dare, as that was the only alcohol she ever sought (which I will forever associate with Worf declaring prune juice to be Warriors Drink!)

Interment will be conducted in the spring of 2027 at Arlington Memorial Gardens in Sandy Springs.