Mrs. Bobbie Rose Odom Allen

A friend, a mentor, a teacher, a mother, a Granny, a great grandmother, and a mother in law began her new life Wednesday, October 16, 2019.

Bobbie Rose Odom Allen, 91, was born April 9, 1928, and died October 16, 2019, in Auburn. She is survived by her daughter, June Allen Christian and son-in-law  John L. Christian, Dothan; grandson, Wynn Christian and his wife, Virginia, of Auburn; great-grandchildren, John, Ben and Ada Christian, of Auburn; her daughter, Reta McKannan, Huntsville, grandson, Ryan McKannan, Huntsville, and granddaughter, Jennifer McKannan, Birmingham.

Bobbie was born in Millport Alabama on April 9, 1928, the youngest of 13 children - six sisters. She graduated from Millport High School and joined her two sisters to work at a Birmingham department store and then a restaurant run by her sisters, Sarah and Winnie. After that, she returned to Lamar County to teach school in Vernon.

She married Jack Allen in 1948 when she was barely 20. They were married for 50 years and six weeks. They enjoyed a wonderful life together, moving to Auburn in 1951, and remaining here from that time. Except for a short period during 2016, she lived here in Auburn her entire adult life.

Bobbie Allen was an active member of the Auburn Church of Christ. She taught second grade Sunday School for more than 50 years. She was also active in the community. She was a member and President of the Auburn Woman's Club, worked in the Head Start program, and she was a hospital volunteer at the East Alabama Medical Center. She told a medic as she entered the emergency room on October 6 that she had volunteered there for 51 years. (He rolled her gurney even more carefully after that.)

Bobbie was a faithful member of the Auburn church for more than 60 years, working with other women to support the education program, and on behalf of whatever work the church leaders set as the road map for the congregation.
She was a prolific and talented gardener and vegetable grower, a skilled bridge player, and a deeply committed Democrat.

Bob Sanders, the late WAUD radio personality who was a cousin of her late husband Jack, named Bobbie Luxapallila Rose, after the Luxapallila Creek in Lamar County. He never missed an opportunity to call her that name on the radio, whether it be when she served soggy collard sandwiches on the Traffic Helicopter during drive time in Auburn, or complimenting her on the most recent meal she had prepared for the bridge club organized in the 1960s and active for 30 years.

A memorial celebration of Bobbie Allen’s life will be held Sunday, October 20, 2019, at the Auburn Church of Christ, 712 S. College Street, Auburn AL. Visitation is at 2:00 p.m. and the service will begin at 3:00 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to one of the following: East Alabama Medical Center Hospital Auxiliary, 2000 Pepperell Parkway, Opelika, AL 36801; the Auburn Church of Christ Children’s Ministry, 712 South College Street, Auburn, AL 36830, or Bethany House, 1171 Gatewood Drive, Building 100, Auburn, AL 36830.