Birth Sept. 19, 1938
Sterling, CO
Death Oct. 12, 2024
Jericho, VT
Details of service
Visitation hours will be held on Friday, Nov. 29 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Ready Funeral Home Mountain View Chapel on Pinecrest Drive in Essex, Vermont. A memorial service, including military honors, will be held at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 30 at the North Avenue Alliance Church campus in Burlington, Vermont.
Due to winter restrictions and cemetery closures, the interment was held immediately. To send online condolences, please visit www.readyfuneral.com.
Allen Eugene Willeford went to be with his Lord and Savior in Heaven on Oct. 12, 2024, re-joining his dear wife Marlys, who passed away earlier this year.
He was born on Sept. 19, 1938 in Sterling, Colorado, the son of Glen and Flohra (Reed) Willeford. Allen grew up west of Peetz, Colorado, together with his sisters Dorothy, Marian and Carolyn. Allen played football and basketball, participated in drama and raised champion sheep for the 4H.
Allen graduated from Peetz High School, received his Associate’s degree from Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, CO, and his Bachelor’s in Agricultural Business from the University of Minnesota. He served in the U.S. Army from 1960-1963, in the 12th Engineer Battalion in West Germany. He bought a brand new Volkswagen Beetle when he was getting out of the military, drove through Europe, and shipped it to the U.S. when his service was over.
Then he moved to Minnesota and married Marlys June Lehman on June 6, 1964 at First Baptist Church in Alexandria, MN. His sons Brent and Tim were born in Minnesota, and then the family moved to Vermont. He worked as a senior loan officer at Farm Credit Service for 35 years, also known as Yankee Farm Credit and Production Credit Association.
He was deeply proud of his children and grandchildren; he diligently kept score at all of Tim’s baseball and basketball games, and he was especially pleased with his grandson Parker’s many visits to Vermont over the last few years.
Allen loved spending time outside and in his workshop with his boys, hiking, biking, camping and driving across country many times to Willeford family reunions and to visit many other relatives.
He was a volunteer for decades at church in Vermont, first at Essex Alliance Church and then for more than 40 years at North Avenue Alliance Church in Burlington, at times as an elder, deacon, trustee, treasurer, governing board member, teaching Sunday school, and head usher and a greeter.
He visited all 48 continental United States by car together with his wife. Upon retirement, he travelled to Ecuador and the Galapagos, and went on a Holy Land tour in Israel. He traveled again through Europe with Marlys three times later in his life, including the Martin Luther tour of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the Christmas markets in Germany, and he also visited Prague, Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest.
His largest hobby was genealogy, and he traced his mother’s family history back to Germany in the 1600s, and the Willefords back to England in the 1300s, before they arrived in the colonies in 1645.
He was predeceased by his wife Marlys on June 1, 2024, by his mother Flohra in 1972, by his father Glen in 1996, by his son Brent in 2009, and by his sisters Marian (Knott) Brown in 1991, Dorothy Williams in 2018, and Carolyn Selee in 2019. He is survived by his son Tim, five grandchildren, 10 nieces and nephews, many cousins, and their families. Allen was a patriarch, not just of the Glen Willeford family, but also of the Ira Willeford family, as of his grandfather Ira’s 31 grandchildren, Allen was the oldest surviving grandson with the Willeford name, until his death.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Allen Willeford.