9:38 am Bill Allen — a farmer at heart
William J. Allen, who died this past week at the age of 97, was a farmer at heart. He operated the Allen Dairy Farm, also known as the Shady Lynn Dairy Farm, in the Siam Community for almost 50 years. As a dairy farmer his day began early and ended late, and it involved hard work. He had the benefit of an inbuilt clock. There was no need for an alarm clock, no need for a lunch bell, and definitely no need for a 4 o’clock milking bell.
He saw and experienced things that few people of today’s generation have, such as the sun coming up in the morning, being there when a new calf was born and stood on its legs for the first time, watching the plow turn fresh earth in the spring, harvesting corn on a fall day, and yes, he no doubt had calloused hands that he felt each time he wiped the sweat from his brow on a hot summer day after mowing a field of alfalfa.
He loved working in the soil and being around animals, whether it be his cows or his horses, which for many years he used to plow the fields, pull the farm wagons, and yes, he rode them up until a few years ago — even when he had to have help to mount them. A daughter-in-law said he looked forward to each spring when he and his farmer friends would get together with their horses to spend the day plowing a field.
Just as he enjoyed animals, Allen loved to grow things. For many years he and his wife, June, grew a large garden. They had been married 70 years when she died in 2008. She had worked on the dairy farm with him, serving as the bookkeeper, but also milked the cows. They had worked in tandem raising their family of five children and making a living.
Milking was done twice a day on the farm. In between milkings there were other chores to tackle, such as feeding, cleaning the barn, planting and harvesting acres of corn, and periodically throughout the summer he with the help of his sons and hired hands cut their alfalfa and raked and baled it.
Allen took pride in his farm. He also took pride in his family and wanted each of his children to have his or her own cow to care for and to enter in the fair every fall. The fair was a fun time for Allen as it was a place he met up with other farmers and to look at animals.
Allen was a member of an old Carter County family — his parents were William Ben and Nancy Treadway Allen. He was one of seven children and the last surviving sibling.
His memories stretched back to when a boy and he crossed the Watauga River in a wagon drawn by horses over a wooden plank bridge. As a young man he watched crews construct the old steel bridge over the river and just a couple of years ago he, his son, and great-grandchildren participated in the groundbreaking for the new Siam Bridge. Before it was opened to traffic, Allen was taken across the bridge in a wheelchair by his son, John — the first two to cross the bridge.
Just as he enjoyed his work, the soil and the animals, family was equally important. He also loved his church at Siam Baptist and supported its work. No doubt each morning as he watched the sun come up, Bill Allen was reminded of his Saviour, the one who was his partner in growing the crops and giving him daily strength to do the chores of the day.
His heritage was rich, his legacy great. He knew the importance of hard work, of doing it right, and completing the task at hand. He liked being his own boss, and as the old saying goes, “You can’t have tails in your face and hate it.” Bill Allen was a person we could all learn from.
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