Allen passed peacefully in his home in Carbondale, Colorado Christmas Eve morning. Born in Brighton Colorado to Lillie and Rudolph Koeneke. Following Service in the US Navy in 1945-46, attended Colorado A&M (now CSU) in Fort Collins. There met his wife , Merilu Gray of Brush, Colorado. He began his banking career with Farmers State Bank in Brush. In 1969 , he organized an ownership group to purchase the First National Bank in Rifle , Colorado where he served as president and moved his family. He finished his banking career in Aspen, Colorado and retired to his beloved home at Ranch at Roaring Fork.
In addition to serving on many boards and charities, Allen was President of the Colorado Bankers Association in 1983, and served on the Citizens Advisory Committee for I-70 through Glenwood Canyon. He was also named as the Rifle Chamber of Commerce’s Man of the Year.
Allen was well respected by his peers in the banking community and had many friends in the Roaring Fork Valley and throughout Colorado. He skied into his early 80’s but most of all loved the game of golf. The front doormat on his home read “I Golf, Therefore I Am Not Here’. Of Allen’s many wonderful qualities, perhaps his most admirable were the courage, optimism and good humor with which he faced adversities, including the untimely loss of his wife, the oil shale collapse on the Western Slope and in his later years, Parkinsons Disease.
Allen is survived by his son Steve(Patricia) of Denver, daughter Ann of Carlsbad, California, son Paul of Carbondale, grandson Jeffrey of Seattle Washington, sisters in-law Carolyn Thornsby (Norman) of Brush and Cynthia Gray of Fort Collins, and many beloved nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents, wife Merilu, Brother Orville (Blanche) and sister Joyce McNey(John) . Allen especially appreciated the kindness and friendship of his wonderful neighbors at Ranch at Roaring Fork.
Services to be announced at a later date.