David Lee Allen

David Lee Allen of Kent, WA passed away on Monday, March 2, 2015 at the age of 63 with his loving wife and adoring daughters at his side. His courageous and aggressive chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer gifted his family and friends 8 months full of joy, love and memories.

Mr. Allen is survived by his wife of 39 years, Janice, and his two daughters, Jeannette Fiala of Boston, MA and Becky of Kent. He leaves his parents, Roland and Barbara Allen, of Kent; and his two sisters, Audine (Dee) Holm of Glendale, AZ and Deborah (Debbie) Allen of Arlington, WA. He is also survived by his two grandchildren, Violette and Edgerton Fiala of Boston, his niece, Vikki Coller, and two grandnephews, Orion and Saxon.

David was born in Wichita, KS on August 23, 1951, where he enjoyed hunting with his grandfather and pretending to be Davy Crockett. This is surely where his interest in survival preparedness was sparked. He graduated from Mercer Island High School where he made life-long friends that he met frequently for lunch after retirement. He earned his BA from the University of Washington, and his Masters of Software Engineering from Seattle University. He enjoyed a 32-year career at Boeing, working with a number of exceptional people. He loved (most of) his projects at Boeing, including his work on FANS-1, CNS/ATM and Boeing’s first Class 3 EFB, but most of all he loved the people on his teams. He is an inventor on 16 patents.

Dave encouraged everyone to use their God-given talents in both vocation and service. He lived out his faith in many ways. He chaperoned youth group trips to Mexico to build houses. He served as a church board member at Kent First Church of the Nazarene, Chairman of the Board of Kent View Christian Schools, and the Chairman of the Board of the Rainier Christian School District, which he was instrumental in establishing. After retiring, he and his wife joined the Public Health Reserve Corps of King County, Kent Fire Department Disaster Response Team, and the Kent Community Emergency Response Team.

Dave enjoyed looking up things on the internet, selling things on eBay, playing computer games while holding hands with his wife, recreating recipes from his vast international travels, exploring all 50 states with his wife and kids, having his kids’ friends hang out at his house – as long as they kept the volume down after he went to bed, operating his ham radio, survival preparation, hosting parties, target shooting, drinking a decent IPA, solving problems, razzing his daughters and playing pretend with his grandkids. Dave did not enjoy shopping in stores that smelled of potpourri, watching shows on HGTV, or attending funerals; so in his honor, we will celebrate his life with a raucous send off party. Please see his CaringBridge site (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/davidallensjourney) for more details.

For those who wish to donate to the fight against pancreatic cancer, Dave’s family has set up a fundraising page in his honor that supports the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/DaveAllen).

He will be remembered for his dedication to his family, his significant contributions to Boeing, avionics and flight safety, and for almost always being right.