Nicholas S. Allen

Nicholas S. Allen of Mishawaka, and recently of Goshen, died at 3:40 pm May 14 following a long illness. He was at home, at peace, and with his family. Nic was born Feb. 10, 1949, in Fort Wayne, Ind., to Rebecca (Cripe) and Glenn G. Allen. When Nic was 4, the family moved to Syracuse, IN, and, a few years later, to his mother’s hometown of Goshen.

A house perched on an acre of land at the edge of Goshen was the perfect setting for a childhood in which daylight hours were lived outdoors. Nic’s and his sister’s parents, especially their dad, nurtured the children’s adventurous spirits. They were presented adult-size bicycles long before they were big enough to sit on the seats and often set out on 10-20 mile treks, to their old swimming hole in Syracuse or on lengthy explorations of Elkhart County. They built an igloo that could sleep four, dug a subterranean clubhouse big enough for all the neighbor kids, and constructed a river raft that would have made Huck Finn proud (but which, alas, was far too heavy to transport the half-mile to the Elkhart River).

It was a household in which a dog or cat never was turned out, no matter how behaviorally challenged, and where a “pet” praying mantis lived on the living room drapes, fed raw hamburger from the tip of a toothpick. Nic, who had remarkably sanguine parents, figured that the best way to learn about fossils and rock formations was to dig them up, and the best way to learn about living things was to hold them in his hands. At least one of every reptile and insect native to northern Indiana was a temporary resident of the Allen household at one time or another. What resulted was extensive knowledge of nature and its occupants.

Books abounded for the Allen children, who had memories of being read “Robinson Crusoe” and “Life on the Mississippi” before they could read themselves. The Allen home was a place where curiosity about history was stirred, especially family history -- both of the pioneers who settled Elkhart County in the early 1800s and long-ago forebears from the highlands of Scotland.

It was from this experience that Nic entered adulthood. He graduated Goshen High School in 1967 and attended Purdue University. On Sept. 5, 1970, he married the love of his life, Rosalie M. Smoker. Nic accepted a job with Essex Corp. and he and Rosie moved to southern Indiana, where they raised their son, Will, and daughter, Heather, in rural Orange County, halfway between Orleans and Paoli. The Allens joined a vibrant Mennonite community where they made many new friends and reconnected with old friends from Rosie’s Pennsylvania and Kansas roots.

After 33 years, corporate downsizing left Nic looking for a job. Thus began a second career, and a return to northern Indiana, where Nic went to work for the city of Goshen as the ordinance officer. He took pride in looking out for the quality of life in his hometown, with an effective mix of patience and firmness. Nic retired in 2014 and began to excel in a latent hobby: photographing the creatures he had come to know so well in his childhood.

Most travel for Nic and Rosie involved visiting family, but the best trip stretched that practice a bit: a journey to Scotland with Nic’s sister and brother-in-law, exploring the ancestral stomping grounds of long-ago family. There were other travel adventures as well. In 2000, Nic and son Will set out by car on Route 66, tracing the highway from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Somehow, Nic found time to become an authority on the American Civil War. With an extensive personal library on the subject, his remarkable memory for details and having made several trips to battlefields, he should have written a book of his own.

Nic also was a film buff with appreciation for movies dating from the 1920’s, an interest he imparted to his son, Will. To his daughter, Heather, he passed on his love of nature.

Yet another talent was public speaking. Nic had excelled in debate in high school and rarely passed up a chance to engage friends and family in lively discussions of current events, often taking the “devil’s advocate” position. An acting bug acquired in his school days never left him, either. After returning to Goshen in 2004, he had roles in two civic theater productions, “Our Town” as the Stage Manager, and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” as Dr. Baugh.

Nic was preceded in death by his mother and father; his uncle, Nicholas McKinney Cripe; and his brother-in-law (who, in every way that mattered, was his brother), Frantz L. Dantzler.

He is survived by his wife, Rosalie M. Allen, Mishawaka; his son, William Lowell Allen, Mishawaka; his daughter, Heather Nicole (Nathan) Freeling, Lafayette, Calif.; his grandson, Samuel Allen Freeling, Lafayette, Calif.; his sister, Gayle Allen Dantzler, South Bend; and his nephew, Aaron (Jehan) Zubler, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Nic also is survived by many close and long-time friends, several of whom traveled from afar to visit him during his illness. The family is especially grateful to Ed Kinney, Milford, who spent many hours lifting Nic’s spirits with recollections of their high school days together.

A gathering to honor and celebrate Nic’s life will be held at 2 pm on Saturday, June 18, at the home of his sister, 51270 Lilac Road, South Bend, Indiana.

Memorial donations may be made to the Frantz L. Dantzler Friends for Life Fund, P.O. Box 171, Notre Dame, IN 46556 (www.frantzfund.com), of which Nic was a founding board member and avid supporter.

Arrangements are under the care of Goethals & Wells Funeral Home and Cremation Care, Mishawaka.

“Now there are some things we all know, but we don’t take’m out and look at’m very often. We all know that something is eternal. And it ain’t houses and it ain’t names, and it ain’t earth, and it ain’t even the stars …everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that something has to do with human beings…There’s something way down deep that’s eternal about every human being.” The Stage Manager, “Our Town” by Thornton Wilder