SHARE

Elizabeth Allen, 89, Longtime New Canaan Resident

NEW CANAAN, Conn. – Elizabeth S. Allen, a longtime New Canaan resident, died Oct. 28 at Meadow Ridge Retirement Community in Redding. She was 89.

Allen was born Oct. 23, 1922, in Boston to Theodore and Caroline Foster Sizer. She grew up in New Haven, Conn., and Bethany, Conn., and attended Bennington College, where she majored in music.

Upon graduating in 1944, Allen moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked as a government translator. She met her husband while in Washington and they married in 1946. They lived in New York City before moving to New Canaan 1951.

Allen lived in New Canaan unti 2002. In addition to raising her family, her passions included music, gardening, tennis, sewing, photography, flower arranging, the outdoors and travel.

She played the viola, violin and piano and sang in her church choir. Allen was a member of the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra, New Canaan Congregational Church, New Canaan Garden Club, New Canaan Country Club, New Canaan Winter Club and Saugatuck Shores Club.

Allen also worked as a travel agent for more than 10 years. In 2002, while in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, Allen moved to Meadow Ridge and lived in the medical unit for the last three years.

Her husband served as chairman of the New Canaan Town Council and as a state representative in the Connecticut Legislature. He died in 1989.

She is survived by six children: Frederick “Derry” Warner Allen, of Washington, Frances Allen Yerkes, of Salisbury, Conn., Yorke Allen III, of McLean, Va., David Sizer Allen, of Miami, Roger Yorke Allen, of Boxborough, Mass., and Mary Allen Gorham, of Woodbridge, Conn.; four daughters-in-law; a son-in-law; 15 grandchildren; six step-grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; a brother-in-law; and a sister-in-law.

A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m., Dec. 1, at Congregational Church of New Canaan.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, P.O. Box 96011, Washington, DC 20090.

to follow Daily Voice New Canaan and receive free news updates.

SCROLL TO NEXT ARTICLE