Damon E. Allen

Damon Earl Allen, Sr. (January 19, 1921 – February 15, 2009),^[1] was an optometrist from Campbellsville in central Kentucky, who as a three-term president of the Kentucky Optometric Association led the campaign to procure passage in the Kentucky State Legislature of a bill permitting optometrists to prescribe medication for their patients.^[2]

Allen was honored by the Kentucky Optometric Association as the first recipient of its "Lifetime Achievement Award", which thereafter bears Allen's name. Allen maintained his practice in Columbia, the seat of nearby Adair County.^[3] He was also active in the American Optometric Association and its Doctors Without Borders auxiliary, a select group of optometrists chosen to demonstrate new techniques to colleagues in China.^[2]

Allen was born to John W. Allen and the former Nannie White in rural Fordsville, in Ohio County in western Kentucky. The family thereafter moved to Campbellsville, where Allen graduated in 1939 from Campbellsville High School. He then attended Ohio State University at Columbus. In 1949, he received his doctor of optometry at Illinois College of Optometry in Chicago. Allen served in the United States Army Air Corps, forerunner of the Air Force, as a bombardier during World War II and was a member of the American Legion.^[2]

Dr. Frank Metzmeier, a nursing home operator from Campellsville, recalls Allen as "community-oriented, very civic-minded. He was very outgoing and caring. He always had a smile and was always interested in talking to everyone."^[4]

Allen was also an amateur aerial photographer who photographed the area that became Green River Lake State Park. He was a member of the Campbellsville Lions Club, the Campbellsville Country Club, and the Taylor County Board of Health.^[2]

On April 16, 1944, Allen married the former Shirley Brooks (February 8, 1926 – August 18, 2006), previously of Texas.^[1] Allen died in Elizabethtown. Survivors included four sons, John B. and Cathy Allen of Campbellsville, Damon E. Allen, Jr., of Southington, Connecticut, Richard R. Allen of Rossville, Tennessee, Robert Bradley Allen and wife, Yvonne Allen of San Antonio, Texas; two daughters, Linda A. Pearl and Sherry A. Williams, both of Bowling Green, Kentucky; two sisters, Clara Lee Rafferty and Mabel Smith, both of Campbellsville; fifteen grandchildren, and twelve great-grandchildren. In addition to his wife and parents, he was preceded in death by an infant daughter, Patty Gail Allen; two daughters-in-law, Jo Ann Little Allen and Audra Richardson Allen; and a brother and a sister, James W. Allen and Josie Ann Newcomb.^[2]

Services were held at Parrott & Ramsey Funeral Home in Campbellsville. Interment was at Campbellsville Memorial Gardens with full military honors by the Marion County Veterans Honor Guard.^[2]

The Kentucky State Senate on May 8, 2009, passed a resolution honoring Allen's lifetime achievements. The Senate noted that Allen also volunteered his services through the charitable Kentucky Vision Project.^[5]

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