Audrey 'Jean' Allen

Audrey 'Jean' Allen

June 8, 1924 - March 6, 2013

LINCOLN, Nebraska -- Audrey "Jean" Allen, 88, died March 6, 2013, in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Jean was born at the Nebraska Industrial Home for Unwed Mothers in Milford, Nebraska, on June 8, 1924. She was adopted on June 10, 1925, by Omer and Ora Marshall and taken to Superior, Nebraska, where she grew up. In 1936, Jean's father was accidentally killed in a hunting accident and when her mother remarried in 1940, the family moved to Denver, where Jean graduated from East High School in 1942. After graduation Jean stayed in Denver where she worked at Blue & Blue Realty and spent time roller skating at Mamouth Gardens with her friends during World War II.

In 1945, she moved to McCook, Nebraska, where she met and married Merritt Allen in 1948. They moved to a farm north of Indianola, Nebraska, where they farmed and raised three children, Jim, Judy and Bob. Jean worked hard as a farm wife; milking cows, raising chickens and a garden. When oldest son Jim came home to farm, Jean and Merritt moved to McCook. They were active in the Elks club where Merritt served as an officer and they loved to travel. Merritt continued to farm and Jean worked part time, continuing to raise a garden and enjoyed sunbathing in her bikini by their pool. Merritt passed away in 1989 and Jean moved to Lincoln in 1991 to be near her children. She remained in Lincoln until her death.

Jean was a free spirit who lived her life with a lot of zest and with little regard to what others her age were doing. She loved the Huskers. She and Merritt purchased season football tickets in 1965 and attended all the home games from that point on. When she moved to Lincoln, she began also attending all the Husker baseball, basketball and volleyball games. She was a hard worker and loved being a mom to her three kids and also a second mom to her two nephews, Bob and Mike Baird and Ana Maria, a Rotary exchange student from Argentina. She loved even more being a grandmother to her two grandsons, Darin and Dean and a great-grandmother to Marshall, Jackson, Audrey, Emma and Addison. She also loved being a second grandmother to her dear friends, Ryan and Marc Dirkschneider. One of her favorite pastimes in addition to caring for her yard and gardening was working out at Prairie Life club where in her 70s, she won the Stairmaster challenge for the most minutes on the Stairmaster.

Survivors include son, Jim and wife, Kathy of Scottsdale, Arizona; daughter, Judy Krasomil and husband, Joe of Lincoln, Nebraska; grandsons, Darin Allen and wife, Aimee and their three children, Marshall, Jackson and Audrey of Lake Charles, Louisiana and Dean Hall and wife, Cally and their two children, Emma and Addison of Pierre, South Dakota.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Omer and Ora Marshall, step-father, Pete Saum, husband, Merritt and youngest son, Bob.

Jean was one of those people who no one forgets once they meet her and she wouldn't have had it any other way. She will be terribly missed.

Funeral Services are Saturday, March 15, 2013, 3 p.m. at Butherus, Maser & Love Funeral Home, 4040 A Street, Lincoln

Burial will be in McCook, Nebraska.

Condolences may be left at www.bmlfh.com" www.bmlfh.com