Mrs. Jane Elizabeth Allen
Jane was born in Dayton, Virginia, in 1939, and attended schools in Arlington and Harrisonburg. After attending James Madison University (then Madison College) during 1957-1958, she moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked for the Civil Service Commission (Investigations Division), while attending the Strayer School of Business at night (completed Private Secretarial Course in 1960). She then transferred to The Pentagon where she worked for the Navy Department. She met her husband Bill who was in the Marine Corps at Quantico, Virginia, in 1963; and, two days after their marriage in the Arlington Church of Christ, the couple moved to Alabama. After the birth of their first child, Jane was employed by the U.S. Air Force at Maxwell Air Force Base as a secretary-steno for the Consolidated Base Personnel Office and for Air University Personnel. She later transferred to Gunter Air Force Base, where she worked as an editorial assistant for the Extension Course Institute and as an editor/writer for the Air Force Logistics Management Agency. Highlights of her career were: being involved in the establishment of the Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS), supporting the communications mission during the Cuban Missile Crisis; preparing reports on the Prisoners of War returning from Vietnam; and serving as assistant editor of the Air Force Journal of Logistics, a magazine distributed worldwide. During that tenure, she also edited The Logistics of Waging War and wrote articles for the base newspaper, The Dispatch. Jane was grateful she had the opportunity to serve our country for over 30 years (she received a medal For Outstanding Civilian Service to the Department of the Air Force and later an American Flag that had flown over our Nation’s Capitol). After retiring in 1994, she traveled to Israel, Egypt, France, Germany, Ireland and Mexico. Upon moving to Arab in 2008, she and Bill enjoyed exploring the backroads, visiting Guntersville Park, and traveling to neighboring towns.