Barbara Allen

Barbara Spelman Allen ended the final chapter of her life on the warm, still evening of July 25, 2019, in the company of three of her kids and in the hearts and minds of her many family members, friends and devoted aides at The Oaks at Northpointe Woods in Battle Creek, Mich. She just missed out on making 99. Barbara, affectionately known as "Barb" or even "Babs," was born Sept. 25, 1920, in Oak Park, Ill., to John Adams Spelman II and Florence Sias Spelman, commonly referred to with affection and no small amount of fear as Bonnie. Barbara graduated from Oak Park (Ill.) High School in 1938 and that fall went on a blind date with a fellow Beloit College freshman named Collin Allen. They were married May 29, 1943, in Miami Beach, Fla., before the Navy rushed him off to the cataclysm in the Pacific. Upon Collie's return, he and Barbara settled into family life, but she did not exactly settle. Resuming an ambition she was forced to set aside in 1939, throughout the 1960s and into the '70s, Barbara pursued a college education over more than a decade, earning bachelor's and master's degrees in library science from Western Michigan University. In the process, she rose from a diligent but obscure and noncredentialed assistant at the Kalamazoo Public Library's branch on East Main Street to assume responsibility for that branch library, every other branch in the Kalamazoo library system and the system's bookmobile program. Barbara retired in 1985, in plenty of time to avoid having to read electronic books. She and Collie then let loose and for the next 18 years embraced a life of travel, time with family and friends and, as befits her effortless grace, lots of routine daily encounters that, taken together, became a life extremely well-lived and loved. Barbara was preceded in death in 2003 by her beloved curmudgeon of a husband, Collie; her parents; three sisters and a brother. She is survived by her three daughters: Susan (Dennis) McCrandall of Fenton, Mich.; Kathryn (James) Nelson of Battle Creek; and Elizabeth (John) Tyler of Madisonville, Tenn.; son Robert (Ellen Dennehy) of Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.; three granddaughters; two grandsons; one great-granddaughter; numerous grand-pets; and a heck of a lot of grand friends and grand memories. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made in her memory to the Kalamazoo Public Library; 315 Rose St.; Kalamazoo, MI 49007, to enable it to persist in its mission to make us better human beings. And failing that or in addition to your generosity, visit your local library, check out a book, read it, return it without an overdue fine, then go home and make sure your loved ones know they are the ones you love. Farley-Estes & Dowdle Funeral Home