Calhoun Allen - Allen's Legacy

Allen's Legacy

In addition to his political activities, Allen was a strong civic leader. He was a member of the Louisiana State Fair Board, chairman of the State Fair Stadium Commission, and a commissioner of the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. He was vice president of the Red River Valley Association, which pushed successfully for the navigation of the Red River south of Shreveport to the junction with the Mississippi River. He was a vice president of the Louisiana Municipal Association, chairman of the Shreve Area Council of Government, and a member of the Shreveport Airport Authority and the Parks and Recreation Council. He was a past president of the executive board of the Norwela Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Allen was also a member of the ArkLaTex Ambassadors, Holiday in Dixie, Kiwanis, Joppa Lodge, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks.

When he vacated the mayoralty, Allen became the coordinator for planning and development of Louisiana State University Medical Center in Shreveport, having served in that capacity from 1979-1988. Allen even staged a brief political comeback in 1990, when he won one of the single-member council seats under the mayor-council form of government. He served only a few weeks, for he died soon thereafter of a sudden illness in the Schumpert Medical Center in Shreveport.

Allen was twice married. In 1948, he wed the former Mary Miller. From the marriage were born a son, L. Calhoun Allen, III, then of San Antonio, Texas, and a daughter, Frances Olivia Allen. The marriage lasted until Mary's death in 1975. Thereafter, Allen married Jacqueline Spell Schober and acquired two stepchildren, John K Schober and Lisa Schober Smith.

Services for Mayor Allen were held at the Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Shreveport. Burial was in Greenwood Cemetery in Shreveport. It was noted in humor that Allen was Episcopalian, his grandfather was Baptist, and Allen attended a Catholic university and graduated from a Methodist college.

Allen was honored by the L. Calhoun Allen Exposition Hall on the Clyde Fant Parkway. The facility was part of the Red River convention complex but was considered too small for conventions but suitable for gun shows and similar events. The acoustics were undesirable for concerts. The facility was hence renamed StageWorks of Louisiana.