rsallen passes

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Lewiston, Idaho, June 20, 2008 - Richard Sanders Allen, 91, died this day in the Life Care Center, Lewiston, Idaho, of heart failure.
      Born in Saratoga Spring in upstate New York, he lived in Schenectady, Round Lake, Albany, Ballston Spa and Loudonville, before moving to Idaho near his son.
      He was postmaster of Round Lake Village, when in 1944, he was drafted into in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. There he served four years in the postal service of the Air Transport Command.
      In the early 1940s, he co-edited and co-wrote the Connecticut Valley Covered Bridge Society newsletter and later, the Covered Bridge Topic magazine, now a publication of the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges.
      He became Chairman of New York state's Bicentennial Commission. He was an aviation researcher for the Smithsonian Institute and free-lance writer and consultant on commercial aviation and on other aspects of engineering history. In 1957, as an expert on covered bridges, he authored Covered Bridges of the Northeast, the first of five regional covered bridge books.
      He published hundreds of magazine articles for such publications as Vermont Life, and American Heritage. As an expert on pre-World War II commercial aviation, he wrote Revolution in the Sky and The Northrup Story 1929-1939. In 2006, he donated his collection of aviation books and research materials to the Empire State Aero-sciences Museum in Schenectady, N.Y. He also donated his collection of covered bridge photos and research to the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges.
      Richard"Rick"Allen is survived by Professor Dick Allen and his wife Prof. L. N. Allen of Trumbull, Colorado, and Prof. Robert Bishop Allen of Kooskia, Idaho; two grandchildren, Reverend Richard N. Allen of Sayville, New York, and Tanya Allen of New Haven Connecticut; and by many nieces and nephews.
      Friendly and outgoing, "Rick" Allen was easy to know. He readily shared his knowledge with all who asked. He will be missed.
      Friends were invited to attend a memorial service July 26, at United Methodist Church, in Saratoga Springs. Memorials may be made in support of the Rick Allen Collection, Research Library, Empire State Aero-sciences Museum, 250 Rudy Chase Drive, Glenville, N.Y.
      Cards can be sent to the family in care of Robert Allen, 334 Selway Road, Kooskia, Idaho 83539

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