Elizabeth Brown Allen's Obituary
March 5, 1938 – February 11, 2015
Elizabeth Brown Allen was born March 5, 1938 in Vicksburg, Mississippi to Albert and Lucille Brown, the fourth of seven children. She had three sisters: Rosa, Gloria and Tehira (neé Thelma) and three brothers: George, Porter and Joseph. The family moved to Omaha, Nebraska where Elizabeth graduated from Central High School in 1959; after which, she promptly joined the US Marines. She served in the Marines from 1959-1962 in San Diego, CA. She met Richard Allen and married in 1969, had one child, Rehema Bahati Allen, in 1971 and divorced in 1973. She received her bachelor’s degree from SF State in 1970. She earned her MBA from the UCB Haas Business School in 1976, where she was also a doctoral candidate at the School of Education in 1984. She began working in Oakland Unified schools in 1972 as a teacher, Assistant Principal and lastly as a home/hospital teacher before retiring in 1996. Between 1996 and 2000 she made her home in Omaha, Nebraska; returned to Oakland, California until 2008; and then, lived in Omaha until 2011. Her last years were spent living with her daughter in Oakland CA.
She is survived by her daughter Rehema Allen; her sisters Gloria Morrison and Tehira Ali; and nieces, nephews and cousins in California, Nebraska, Mississippi, Washington, Illinois, Texas and Louisiana. She was gracious, calm, thoughtful, kind, stubborn, reflective, determined, and patient; Elizabeth Brown Allen: daughter, sister, auntie and mother.
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