Ralph Hammett Allen, 60, of Little Rock, Ark., and formerly of Rochester, passed away with his family surrounding him on June 11, 2016. Ralph died of cardiac arrest.
He was born April 1, 1956, in Ann Arbor, Mich., to Dorothy and George Allen. His family settled in Rochester in 1968. Ralph graduated from Mayo High School in 1974, having spent his senior year in Australia as a Rotary Club Exchange student.
Ralph graduated from St. Olaf College on May 28, 1978, and married the love of his life, Jan Vevle, the next day at St. John's Lutheran Church in Northfield. On May 30, he started law school at the University of Iowa.
With his law degree and bar exam completed, he joined the Army's JAG Corp and spent the next three years in Germany. His wife, Jan, went with him, and their first son, Alexander, was born in Nuremberg.
Ralph left the Army in late 1983 and worked for a few years in the county attorney's office in Fort Dodge, Iowa. He continued in the Army Reserves, retiring in 2010 as a colonel.
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In 1988, Ralph moved his family to Little Rock where he joined the legal staff of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and became Deputy Counsel.
Ralph was an active Boy Scout of Troop 82 at Zumbro Lutheran Church and attained the rank of Eagle. He was an active scouter for the rest of his life, working with Cub Packs and scout troops.
Ralph is survived by his parents, Dorothy and George Allen of Rochester; his wife, Jan Vevle of Little Rock; three sons, Alexander (Holly) of Huntsville, Ala., Justin (Michelle) of Little Rock and Ethan of Little Rock; a granddaughter, Hadley Elisse; a sister, Ruth (Jeff) Ehler of Omaha, Neb.; and three brothers, Richard (Brigid) of West Hartford, Conn., Frank (Kim) of Rochester, and George Leighton Allen, Jr., of Clovis, Calif.
The funeral will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at Faith Lutheran Church in Little Rock. Visitation will be from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. today. Burial will follow at the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery in North Little Rock, Ark.
