Birth Date: 01/30/1932
Deceased Date: 09/18/2023
Emma “Frances” Allen, age 91 of Edwards Store Road, Mt. Olive, N.C. reunited on the shores of Heaven with the love of her life Nelson. She passed away peacefully on Monday, September 18, 2023, at her residence with her loving family by her side. Frances Allen was born in Mt. Olive, N.C. January 30, 1932, to Edward and Emma Rutter, where she spent her childhood in circumstances she would later describe in her own words in a journal “Reflections from a Mother’s Heart”. She would always talk about the playhouse that she had under the grapevine that still grows and produces grapes to this day. She enjoyed playing with her cousins and doing pretend plays, it’s no wonder that she would go on to be the lead in her high school senior play. She loved to read, cultivate her garden, raise chickens, and walk the family farm, passions she retained all her life.
Frances came from humble beginnings which is responsible for much of her take on life, Frances’s lifelong perception of reality and perspicacious approach to the world was born on that small working farm. She didn’t have running water, bathroom, telephone, or central heating. The family used a fireplace to provide heat and a wood stove to cook meals. She didn’t even have a bedroom, she had to sleep in the kitchen. As irony would have it when she returned home to the family farm with her husband the kitchen would be converted into the master bedroom.
Our mom would tell us that she had a loving dad and that she and her siblings always knew they were loved. Her family didn’t have a lot of things growing up but what they did have was love and that is what was important. Many years later our mom would write a poem “What This World Needs is Love and More Love” which discusses the love for country, his fellowman, family, but most of all for God.
Frances would go on to meet the love of her life Nelson. They were married in the family home. All the neighbors came. She did not have a wedding cake, just punch and cookies. This is ironic because our mom would go on to be a bakery manager where she made thousands of wedding cakes, even wedding cakes for her children’s weddings. She even made a birthday cake for Bob Hope! She was very proud of that.
Frances was known to all around as a sweet, kind, and loving person who also had the inner strength of a warrior. She still maintained a garden up to her nineties. She would stand her ground and defend her chickens against snakes, opossums or whatever would dare to take her on. We all loved her quick wit and wonderful sense of humor. Such as her most recent time waiting in the ER getting tired of waiting telling us “I’m ready to tell the ER staff bye just as quick as I said Hi”.
Frances was preceded in death by her loving husband, Nelson Lee Allen, Sr., a daughter, Deborah Kay Allen, and son George Ernest Allen. A sister Mary Belle Jernigan, a brother, Samuel Edward Rutter.
Left to cherish her memories are her sons, Nelson Lee Allen, Jr., David Alexander Allen, and John Christopher Allen (Sherry). Her daughters, Sandra Gail Cheek (Kenny), Mary Allen Batts (Steven), and Agnes Annette Burns (Jason). Also, nineteen grandchildren and twenty-one great great grandchildren.
Online condolences may be made at: www.westanddunn.com
West & Dunn Funeral Home, Newton Grove, North Carolina is honored to serve the Allen Family.
