Allen, Mary Magdalene Pace

Mary Magdalene Pace Allen, or Grandma/Aunt Maggie, 
passed away February 28, 2010, from causes incidental to 
old age. She was 96 years old. Maggie was born to 
pioneering parents James Pace and Adeline Savage on 
September 19, 1913, in Woodruff, AZ, a small farming 
settlement in Northern Arizona. She was one of 8 children. 
Only one- Gwendolyn Udall of St. Johns/Mesa, AZ survives 
her. Maggie graduated from Snowflake High School and 
went to NAU in Flagstaff to pursue a career in teaching. 
Her first assignment was in a one-room schoolhouse in 
Woodruff, with her youngest brother, Lincoln, as one of the 
students. She continued in the profession for 37 years 
teaching through the Great Depression, World War II, and 
on into the 1970's. Maggie taught more than 1185 students 
and she could remember and write down each of their 
names nearly up to the end of her life. She met her 
husband, Gove Allen of Mesa, AZ, while attending college. 
He too became a teacher and coach. They were married in 
the Mesa LDS Temple in 1933. They had four children - 
Gove L. Allen, Jr. of Mesa, AZ, Gary Allen (deceased), 
JaNeanne Webster of Salt Lake City, and Loren Allen or 
Orem, Utah. The family used to spend summers in 
Greenley, CO, where Maggie and Gove earned their 
Master's degrees. (Maggie's certificate said Doctorate but 
she never took advantage of it.) Gove Sr. died in 1951. 
Maggie raised their small family on her own to produce an 
attorney, and industrial arts teacher, a graphic 
designer/artist and a master craftsman, all college 
graduates. Recently Maggie resided with daughter 
JaNeanne in Salt Lake City. It is estimated that she 
produced nearly 4000 quilt tops for the LDS Humanitarian 
Center. Maggie leaves behind 24 grandchildren, 63 great-
grandchildren and 24 great great grandchildren, all of 
whom she knew by name and for most had made a quilt. 
Larkin's Mortuary of Salt Lake City is handling final 
arrangements. A memorial service/viewing is Wednesday 
March 3 at 6:30 PM in mortuary chapel at 260 South 
Temple. Funeral services are Saturday, March 6 at 10:00 
AM in the old 2nd Ward building in Mesa, AZ. She will 
buried beside her husband in the Mesa Cemetery. Meldrum 
Mortuary handled the final arrangements in AZ. To sign the 
guestbook please visit www.meldrummortuary.com. 

Published in The Arizona Republic from March 3 to March 
4, 2010