Thomas Allen, of Damariscotta, passed away June 25. He lived in Damariscotta in the last few years of his long life.
Thomas Allen was born in Brookline, Mass. He was a Harvard student during WWII when he left college to serve his county. He joined the U.S. Marine Corps in June of 1942 after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Recognizing his academic strengths, the Marine Corps sent him to learn how to speak Japanese. He was sent to the Pacific, first to Saipan and then to Nagasaki just after the atomic bomb had been dropped there. His major function was as an interpreter with the occupation forces and then to help demilitarize the Japanese war machine.
After the war he returned to Harvard to finish his bachelor’s degree. He met his wife Mary Jane Hoey in Illinois. They moved to Michigan where Tom worked for Ford Motor Company. They then moved to California where Tom worked for Lockeed and then to New Hampshire where he worked for a family business, McAllen Company. After retirement Tom began his own firm which was a successful security company named Protective Systems.
He spent most summers at the family home in Princeton, Mass. moving there permanently in the early 1980s and staying until 2001. Princeton had been the summer home of his grandfather, the artist Thomas Allen, and of his father Thomas Allen. Summers in Princeton have been times of joy and relaxation for five generations of the Allen family. He and his wife Mary Jane moved to Maine in 2001 to live near their daughter who lived in Camden.
Throughout his life, Tom enjoyed many outdoor recreational activities. He skied most of his life and took several ski trips to Switzerland and enjoyed teaching skiing especially to family members. He enjoyed hiking and hiked Annapurna in Nepal. In 1992 and 1993 he spent the winters teaching skiing to Japanese tourists and skiing with Japanese who were training for the Olympics in Winter Park, Col. As a former ski instructor, at 92, he learned new skills on a mono ski thanks to Maine Adaptive Sports & Recreation. Last summer Tom decided to try ocean kayaking and enjoyed it fully. He was also an avid sailboarder for many years. All family members spent many wonderful hours canoeing, hiking, horseback riding and skiing with Tom over the years.
Tom recently participated in a Maine Honor Flight to see the WWII memorial in Washington, D.C. At Hodgdon Green, Tom initiated a mental health support group. He took to the slopes one last time at 94 years old, proving you are never too old to enjoy life to the fullest.
He was predeceased by his wife.
He is survived by daughter, Elizabeth Jane Allen; granddaughter, Chapman Tuttie; grandson, Zoan Tuttie; three nieces; five nephews; and an adoring group of great-nieces and great-nephews.
His body has been donated to medicine, and his ashes will later be buried next to his wife’s in Princeton, Mass. at Woodlawn Cemetery.
