Willie B “Bill” Allen, Jr., 88, of Port Neches, Texas passed away Friday, December 31, 2010 at the Medical Center of Southeast Texas in Port Arthur. Bill was born February 13, 1922 in Call, Texas, to Willie B Allen, Sr. and Phyllis Ann Linscome Allen. He had lived in Port Neches since 1946 and was a member of First Baptist Church in Port Neches for over sixty years.
Bill was a descendant of early settlers (Allen, Linscome, and Stephenson families) in Texas. He was a distant relative of the Allen brothers, that founded Houston, Texas and the Stephenson family that Stephenson County, in the northeast Texas panhandle, was named after.
Bill attended schools in Call and Kirbyville, Texas. He won the male recipient of the American Legion award in his class when going from junior high to senior high school. He played football, basketball, baseball and ran track for Kirbyville High School. After high school Bill worked on the family farm, cowboyed, and worked in the machine shop at the Kirby Lumber Company sawmill that was located in Call, Texas, where he learned to weld and operate a lathe.
On December 8, 1941, Bill joined the Navy and served in the Pacific, during World War II, aboard the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (February 1942 to June 1944) and the USS St. Croix (December 1944 until the end of the war). He was also stationed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and served as part of the skeleton crew to take newly constructed Navy vessels from the Puget Sound shipyards in Washington State to California for a shake down cruises. After being honorably discharged from the Navy at the end of World War II, Bill worked construction in the Houston area. He then worked as an operator at Goodrich-Gulf in Port Neches, and then went to work at Jefferson Chemical Company when it was started in 1946 as a water treater in the Utilities Department. When he retired in 1982, he was a supervisor in the Operations Department at Texaco Chemical.
Bill enjoyed sports, history and hunting and had hunted all of his life. He trained bird dogs for hunting quail and always had several bird dogs around. He hunted and killed deer until he was in his seventies.
He was preceded in death by his first wife, Wanda Hughes Allen, who died in 1950 with cancer; his loving wife of fifty-nine years, Merdley ”Jerry” Sonnier Allen, who died May 19, 2010; his parents; and sister, Helen Gilbert.
He is survived by his daughter, Kim Sonia Allen of Beaumont; sons, Benny Craig Allen of Westminister, Maryland, Allen Dale Eaves of Call, and Kevin Bill Allen of Port Neches; sisters, June Ragland of Angleton, Texas and Mary Ann Garrett; brother, Sam C. Allen of Kirbyville; grandchildren, Andrew Allen and his wife Michelle, Cody Ann Robinson and her husband Patrick, James Eaves, Melissa Quebodeaux, Amy Eaves, Justin Eaves, April Stonebreaker and her husband, Jeffrey, Jeremy Jensen and his wife Christina, and Anders Jensen; fourteen great-grandchildren, Ty David Allen, Austin John Allen, Jackson Ryan Allen, Dylan Scott Quebodeaux, Ryan Gage Quebodeaux, Samantha Grace Dixon, Hunter Allen Stonebreaker, Lance Haven Stonebreaker, Luke Ashton Stonebreaker, Jeffrey Logan Wolfe, Kadence Lynn Wolfe, Colt David Jensen, and Tyler Alexis Jensen; and many loving nieces and nephews.
Funeral service will be 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, January 5, 2011, at Broussard’s, 505 12th Street, Nederland with Dr. David Mahfouz officiating. Graveside service will be at 3:00 p.m. Wednesday at Trout Creek Cemetery in Call, Texas. A gathering of family and friends will be Tuesday evening, January 4, 2011, from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m., at Broussard’s.
Memorial contributions may be made to Alzheimer’s Association, 700 North Street, Suite M, Beaumont, Texas 77701 or M.D. Anderson, 1515 Holcomb, Houston, Texas 77081.
