Ben W. (Billy) Allen

Ben W. (Billy) Allen, 85, died Wednesday, Dec. 15, in a Temple nursing home.

Memorial services were held Monday, Dec. 20, at First United Methodist Church in Rosebud. Visitation was held one hour prior to the service.

Mr. Allen was born Feb. 18, 1936, at home in Briary, Milam County, Texas. He attended Briary School and Ada Henderson Elementary and Yoe High School in Cameron. He entered Rosebud High School as a sophomore. He graduated from RHS in 1954 and attended Southwest Texas State College and Victoria Junior College before joining the United States Navy. He attained the rank of airman first class and was a control tower operator handling jet traffic at Chase Field, Naval Auxiliary Air Station in Beeville, Texas, outside Corpus Christi. He was discharged from the Navy in 1960 and worked for Wolf Gins in Rosebud and Burlington before going to work at Alcoa in Rockdale for five years. He managed Rosebud Dryer and Storage. He became partners with Monroe Parcus and John R. Killgore Jr. to build PAK Grain Storage in 1979 and managed the grain storage until they sold it in 1999. Mr. Allen continued raising cattle at Briary. He served for several years on the Falls County Appraisal District review board, the board for the Rosebud Housing Authority, and the board for Fire District No. 3, which was responsible for getting EMS service in this area of the county.

He was a member of Plainview Baptist Church in Briary and later joined the First United Methodist Church in Rosebud. He was a member of the United Methodist Men. He married Beth McClimons in 1960.

His wife; a son, Sean Allen of Rosebud; a daughter, Shannon Allen of Austin; and two granddaughters, Madeleine and Caroline Allen of Chapel Hill, N.C.; one brother, John B. Allen Jr. of Waxahachie; and two sisters, Virginia Gibson of Lewisville and Sue Rigsby of Houston,  survive him.

He was preceded in death by two sisters, Linda Allen and Betty Cross.

Cook-Gerngross-Green-Patterson Funeral Home in Rosebud is in charge of arrangements.