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Elmer Allen, 75, of Greer, Arizona, died October 3, 2001 at the Bannon Springs Ranch Assisted living Facility in Vernon, AZ. He was the son of Bonnie L. and Bertha Skaggs Allen of Tularosa, New Mexico. In 1942 he enlisted in the Navy Air Force a few days before his scheduled graduation from high school. After his discharge in 1946 he entered New Mexico State University where he was an active member of the Livestock Judging Team, the Aggie Rodeo Association and Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Animal Science and through ROTC, the rank of Second Lieutenant in the Army Reserves. He married Patricia Joan Ashby of Gentryville, Indiana and Las Cruces, New Mexico. They have one son, Danny Howard Allen, of Roswell, New Mexico. After a brief period as Cattle Buyer for the Cudahay Packing Co., in Phoenix, AZ and as Buffalo Rancho Manager for the Arizona Game and Fish Department in 1951, he began his 27 year tenure with New Mexico Extension Service at Clayton, New Mexico. As Assistant County Agent, he worked with Union County 4-H Clubs and the County Fair. In 1953 he returned to NMSU as a Graduate Assistant to earn a M.S. degree in Animal Breeding in 1954. He then worked with the Arizona Extension Service in Yuma and Willcox. In 1956 he was appointed County Extension Agent in Harding County, Mosquero, New Mexico. Here he started 4-H Clubs and is remembered as the Father of the Harding County Fair, Horse Show and Livestock Sale. In 1967 he transferred to Zuni Pueblo as Agricultural Extension Agent. There, he initiated the Zuni-McKinley County Fair and helped the Zuni Cattle Association and the Zuni Sheep Association break the traditional barter system and improve their management programs. He received the New Mexico Sheepmen of the Year Award for his work with the Zuni Sheep Association. Before retiring in 1981 to live in the White Mountains of Arizona in Greer, he was an active member in the New Mexico Quarter Horse Association, the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, the New Mexico Wool Growers Association, the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau and the national American Indian Cattle Association. He also wrote or contributed to a number of Agricultural Extension Service Bulletins. Survivors include his wife, Patricia; his son, Danny; daughter-in-law, Ann; and grandson, Benjamin Joseph (BJ) Allen; aunt, Agnes Wright of Running Springs, California; two brothers, David Allen of Jal, New Mexico, Bonnie A. Allen of Mayhill, New Mexico; and three sisters, Agneta Searcy of Abilene, Texas, Joan Simpson of Alamogordo, New Mexico and Tressia Owens of San Angelo, Texas. Arrangements are under the direction of Fletcher's Mortuary of Show Low.
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