Lee Allen

From Bhamwiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Leland Norcross Allen Jr (born April 16, 1926 in Shawmut, Chambers County; died December 16, 2024 in Mountain Brook) was dean of the Howard College of Arts and Sciences at Samford University from 1975 to 1990.

Allen was the son of Leland and Dorothy Whitaker Allen. Shortly after he was born the family moved to His first months were spent in Ithaca, New York where his father completed his master's degree at Cornell University. Afterward they relocated to Montgomery and he attended school there. He enrolled at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute in Auburn when he was 16, but left classes when he was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II. He suffered injuries in training that left him hospitalized for more than a year, and was discharged in 1946. He returned to Auburn and completed his bachelor's degree in history and political science in 1948, and a master's in 1949, having completed a thesis on the women's suffrage movement in Alabama.

Allen enrolled as a Harrison Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. He was awarded his Ph.D. in 1955 having completed a dissertation on the candidacy of Oscar Underwood in the 1924 Democratic presidential primary.

Allen began his teaching career at Eastern Baptist College in St Davids, Pennsylvania in 1952. He left in 1961 to join the faculty of Samford University, where he remained until his retirement in 2001. He founded the School of Graduate Studies in 1965. In 1975 he began a 15-year tenure as dean of the Howard College of Arts and Sciences. He also taught at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary's Birmingham Center from 1985 to 1988. In 2000 he was tapped as University Historian and prepared a manuscript history of the college's years in Shades Valley.

Allen married the former Catherine Bryant in 1963. They had two children, Leland III and Leslie.

He is the author of many histories of Baptist churches and of a history of Samford University. He founded the Alabama Academy of Distinguished Authors and served as its director. He also served on the Southern Baptist Historical Society, the Alabama Baptist Historical Society, and the Alabama Historical Association, serving as president of the latter group in 19931994. He was also an active member, at different times, of Ruhama Baptist Church, Mountain Brook Baptist Church, and Meadow Brook Baptist Church, serving much of his life as deacon, clerk and historian for those congregations.

Allen was a long-time active member of the Shades Valley Rotary Club and editor of its "Script" newsletter.

Publications

References