We regret to advise of the death of Gordon Willis Allen of Vernon BC on 20 September 2000 at the age of 81 years.
Gordon was born in the Spy Hill district of Saskatchewan. His family later moved to Esterhazy SK where Gordon received his schooling. He left school at 13 to work on the family farm. He soon ‘hit the road’ to work in Alberta and Northern Ontario. When the Second World War broke out, Gordon enlisted and joined the 14th Field Company, Royal Canadian Engineers. His training started in Regina, and continued in Dundurn SK and then Petawawa ON before he was shipped overseas in February 1941. In August 1943, Gordon and his company deployed to Sicily and then to Italy for 22 months. In February 1945, the unit was sent to Northwest Europe until the end of the war. As a veteran of the Italian Campaign, Gordon returned to Canada earlier than most and was back in Regina by June 1945. Both of Gordon’s brothers as well as a sister also served overseas.
Gordon stayed briefly in Esterhazy and shortly after getting married In 1947, moved to BC. Starting in Nelson where he worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway, moving then to Terrace with the Department of Indian Affairs, Gordon finally settled in Vernon BC where he worked at the Vernon Army Cadet Camp Construction and Maintenance Supervisor until he retired in 1984.
Gordon is buried in Our Lady of Assumption Roman Catholic Cemetery, in Esterhazy.
