Ken Allen, teacher, 1971-1976. Mr. Allen died on July 9, 2011. This is his picture from the 1973 Echo.
His obituary: ALLEN, Kenneth – Dr. Kenneth R. Allen, of Jasper, formerly of Cobb County, passed away on Saturday, July 9, 2011. He was 65. Ken was born in Five Points, Alabama in 1945, and he always maintained a close connection to the land and people from which he came. But when Ken's family moved to Powder Springs in 1952, Ken began forming ties to Cobb County and the State of Georgia that would last for the remainder of his lifetime. The only child of two lifelong educators, Ken was raised by his parents as much at school as we he was at home. Ken's father, Herbert Denson, was the principal at Ken's elementary school, and his mother, Lorraine, was his sixth grade teacher. In 1964, Ken graduated from South Cobb High School, where he played basketball and excelled academically. Ken received his B.A. from Auburn University, where he was a member of Kappa Sigma Fraternity. He then went on to earn an M.A. and Ph. D. from Georgia State University. For over 30 years, Ken devoted his professional career to serving the State of Georgia as a dedicated educator and to embodying his tenet that education is a helping profession. Ken was a teacher, coach, and administrator at Mabry Middle School, Walton High School and Sprayberry High School. He also served as a professor at Georgia State's College of Education. In 1986, Ken was named the founding president of North Metro Technical College in Acworth. Ken devoted the next 15 years of his life to that institution, supervising the construction of the North Metro campus, hiring all faculty and administrators and leading the College from its inception until his retirement in 2001. Throughout his career, Ken remained a committed proponent of technical and vocational education and worked tirelessly to forge new educational programs in applied fields. Ken's principal vision was the creation of a community college system in the State of Georgia, a goal that Ken finally saw accomplished in his final year of state service. Ken was also a founding member of the Cobb Education Consortium, a unique collaborative among six educational entities in Cobb County, dedicated to providing increased educational opportunities to students and improved career development for faculty and staff. The Consortium continues to serve as a national model for other educational partnerships. Following his retirement, Ken moved to Jasper, Georgia, where he could pursue the outdoor activities that he loved so much, such as hunting, hiking and boating. Over the past 10 years, Ken has dedicated his time to volunteering at the Timothy House in Talking Rock, Georgia, to being active in his local church, and to spending time with his children and grandchildren. Ken is survived by his four sons, Jason, Scott, John, and Winn, and seven grandchildren, Jake, Jack, Jett, Jennings, Sam, Ben, and Nathaniel. He is preceded in death by his parents, and his beloved dogs, Charlie, Babe, CoCo, Lady, and Rosie. A memorial service will be held Thursday, July 14, at 4:00 p.m. in the chapel of West Cobb Funeral Home and Crematory, Inc., in Marietta. The family will receive friends and guests from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in memory of Ken Allen to The Timothy House, P.O. Box 868, Talking Rock, GA 30175 (www.timothyhouse.org Online guestbook available at www.westcobbfuneralhome.com.
Published by Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Jul. 12, 2011.
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