Russell W. Allen was born in American Hospital on the north side of Chicago on October 21, 1921.

Grandparents:

Russ's paternal grandfather, Louis Baker , called L.B., had worked for the railroad, first as an executive and later as a contractor. In the 1920's L.B. had an income at one time of $75,000, and later $100,000. He even had a private railroad car with its own cook and dining area. During this time he speculated in movie theatres but his money was lost after the 1929 stock market crash and depression. L.B. and Inez settled down on a farm in Wisconsin. L.B. was a very strict grandfather.

Russ's father, Russell W. Allen, Sr. was born in 1895 in St. Paul, Minnesota. He attended two years at the University of Nebraska before going into the army during WWI. In 1919 he married Cecilia Lorraine Wilson and moved to Chicago.

Cecilia had been born in 1893 in Burlington, Iowa. She married Russ, Sr. after graduating from high school. Her father, Albert Wilson, called Al, and her mother, Minnie, whom the grandchildren called Mayme, were both fun to be around. Al made money in Florida real estate during the twenties. At one time he owned several beautiful race-horses that Russ remembered well but all this was lost in the stock market crash and depression.

Cecilia and Russell Allen were to have three children. Virginia, then Russ a year later, and finally eight years later, Barbara.

When Russ was about five years old the family moved out to La Grange, a western suburb of Chicago. La Grange was along the track Burlington railroad where his father worked. "From this point forward," Russ later wrote, "my family always located along the Burlington, for purposes of Dad's commuting to work and the family's commuting to downtown Chicago on occasion."

Remembering his father, Russ wrote: "I respected him and loved him. I knew he was very good at this railroading work, because his workmates had such a high regard for him. He had worked his way up from switchman to yardmaster to general yardmaster (when I first became really aware of his job) and later to Trainmaster and Assistant Superintendent of the Chicago Division of the Burlington. I knew he had been an outstanding athlete at Lincoln (Neb.) High School and Burlington (Iowa) High Scholl and at the University o Nebraska -- in football, basketball, baseball and track. He was an ace at cards -- pinochle, bridge, hearts, and (I'm sure) poker. One of his buddies used to call their card games 'The Russell Allen Benefit Society.' I even admired his handwriting, which was bold and clear, and of course the way he could race through crossword puzzles. I knew that he was very smart. He was also very uncommunicative."

The Allen family lived in a number of different rented houses in the same neighborhood of Berwyn until they finally bought the house on Winona Street where Russ's parents lived the rest of their lives.

Like his father, Russ was active in sports all his student days, particularly in track and field. At Morton High School in Cicero, Russ had a stellar career. In addition to acquiring school letters in track, tennis, football, baseball and basketball, he was voted the most popular student. Russ was a class officer and editor of the school paper.

Academically he excelled also. He won the Harvard Award for "Outstanding Junior Boy," was elected to the National Senior Honor Society in his junior year, and in the summer of 1938 he won a national scholarship to the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. In a graduating class of 1089 students in 1939, he ranked first scholastically and was Valedictorian of his class.

It was while he was in high school that his social activism began. He once led a revolt of students opposing injustices to teachers by the administration. This nearly caused his expulsion from school. He even published a little newspaper called Free Press telling of the injustices, and this helped to remedy the situation.

Russ received a scholarship to the Honors College of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. Even so, he had to take on jobs in order to pay for his education. He waited on tables at school, worked in a grain mill nearby and taught English to immigrants in a community program.

Russ set a track record in the hundred-yard dash, and there is a commemorative plaque in the Wesleyan field house.

He graduated in 1942 and worked a few months on the railroad.

In September 1942 he married Donna Rehkopf whom he had met on the high school newspaper. While she was finishing up her last semester at Duke University, he got a job on a newspaper in Durham as court reporter.

When Donna graduated in 1943, they moved to Washington, and that same month, February, he was inducted into the Air Corps, flying 36 missions. Russ was in Okinawa when the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He earned a Distinguished Flying Cross.

Russ and Donna's first daughter, Dana Densmore, was born in March 1945, while Russ was still on Guam. He returned to Washington in December of that year. In 1946 Russ and Donna moved to Chicago to attend graduate school at the University of Chicago in Economics.

During this time Russ was one of the organizers of the American Veterans Committee (AVC). The AVC was a progressive veterans' organization dedicated to liberal issues in the areas of price controls, whether nuclear plants should be run by the government or by private industry, policies of this country toward the Soviet Union (the cold war had already begun), as well as civil rights and civil liberties. He was a delegate to the first convention in Des Moines, Iowa, in June 1946. While still a graduate student, he was elected to the executive board of the University of Chicago chapter, the largest chapter in the country.

His second child, Indra Dean, was born in November 1946. Third daughter Martha Leslie was born in February 1948.

Between June 1947 and February 1949, he worked for the Retail Clerks Union in Chicago. That year he moved to Albany, New York, to become Research and Educational Director of the International Brotherhood of Paper Makers. He also edited their magazine which came out every other month.

The following year, in December 1950, Russ and Donna's fourth child, Mark Mitchell was born.

All four children sang union songs as they grew up. Dana knew all the verses to Union Maid before age two. Mark was heard on several occasions singing union songs from his crib.

Russ moved to Schenectady in 1952 where he and Donna had built a house. His job with the Papermakers union called for him to travel in all parts of the United States and Canada, wherever paper mills were located, teaching classes. He often took his family with him, particularly in the summertime. For a number of years he taught in labor education programs, such as the University of Wisconsin's School for Workers. Also in 1952 he attended a UNESCO Conference in France representing the union.

In 1956 he was asked by the State Department to go to England and survey the operation of the Fulbright program in the area of workers' education. He and his family stayed for his 5 month's. They traveled all over England and Scotland with him. The children attended the London County Council (public) schools.

During the nine years in upper New York State he wrote a number of papers and taught some public courses for Cornell University.

Russ accepted the position of Education Director of the Industrial Union Department, AFL-CIO and moved his family to Washington, DC, in 1957. In this job he established many educational programs for the leaders of national and international unions.

Seven years later, in 1964, Russ moved to East Lansing, Michigan. He taught in the Masters program at Michigan State University for the Labor and Industrial Relations Department and ran labor programs off campus for workers in the Michigan area.

Donna and Russ separated at this time and Donna remained in Washington, DC where she was working. They eventually divorced but remained friends throughout their lives until Donna's death in 1999.

In 1970-1971, Russ was Visiting Professor at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Russ married Shirley Montgomery in 1971, a friend he and Donna had known since their graduate school days. Shirley had raised her two sons, Scott and Bruce, after the death of her husband.

The black and white photo is Bruce and Scott with Russ (football in hand). The color photo is Russ and Shirley with Scott, Bruce, Mark and Martha at the ocean in Dewey Beach, Delaware.

Russ and Shirley moved to Bethesda, Maryland in 1972. Russ began working as Assistant Director, then Deputy Director, of the George Meany Center for Labor Studies in Silver Spring. In 1985 he joined the Adjunct Senior Staff of the Center and in the spring was Visiting Professor at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. In the winter of 1986 he was again Visiting Professor at the School of Labor & Industrial Relations at Cornell.

Russ and Shirley had eight happy years together until her death in 1978.

In 1979 Russ married Jane Strange, the woman with whom he would share the rest of his life. Jane worked with him at the Center for Labor Studies.

The third of her three sons, Caleb Strange, was still living at home. When Russ and Jane moved to Nashville, Tennessee, they were both near some of their grandchildren. Russ's son, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren live in Memphis.

From 1985 until the mid-nineties Russ taught seminars all over the US. In addition he traveled as far as Panama, Jamaica, and Romania to teach workers and labor organizers.

Russ is survived by his wife, Jane; his two sisters Virginia Stehney and Barbara Young; his four children Dana Densmore, Indra Dean Allen, Martha Leslie Allen, and Mark Mitchell Allen; his grandchildren, Rebecca Peterson, Timothy Allen and Donna Caledonia Allen, Zenia Allen Zeitlin; his great-grandchildren Chris and Sara Bales; his step-sons Scott and Bruce Montgomery, Caleb Strange, Drake and Mark Holliday.

A Memorial for Russell Allen took place September 8, 2001 at the George Meany Center for Labor Studies in Silver Spring, Maryland. Photos of family gathering.

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This information was put together by daughter Martha. Anyone wishing to be in touch with Russ Allen's family is welcome to contact Martha Allen -- Email: allen [at] wifp.org