Proceedings of the fifth mountain lion workshop: 27

2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIFTH MOUNTAIN LION WORKSHOP
ALLEN ANDERSON
1927-1997
Allen was born March 17, 1927, in Duluth, Minnesota, to Walter and Anna Hancock Anderson. His father worked as
a mechanical engineer and his mother as a secretary before her marriage. Allen graduated from Vallejo Senior High School in
Vallejo, California, in 1944. Intent on becoming a writer, he joined the Merchant Marine after high school to see the world and
gain experience about which to write. Two years later, Allen quit the Merchant Marine and enlisted in the U.S. Army.
After serving in Korea with the Army prior to the Korean War, he attended Colorado A & M, now Colorado State
University, in Fort Collins on the G.I. Bill. While working on a winter class project in the mountains in early 1951, he suffered
severe frostbite on both feet. All the toes on his left foot were amputated and he spent about nine months at the Veterans
Administration Hospital in Cheyenne, Wyoming, recuperating. One of his nurses at the hospital was Marilu Soper, who grew
up on a ranch south of Custer, South Dakota. The two were married December 15, 1951, in Custer. Allen graduated from
Colorado A & M with a bachelor of science degree in game management in 1953 and from CSU with a master of science degree
in wildlife management in 1960.
During his professional career, Allen studied primarily mule deer ecology, first in the Guadalupe Mountains of New
Mexico and then in the Poudre River and Big Thompson River drainage areas west and southwest of Fort Collins. The last
research project he undertook before officially retiring from the Colorado Division of Wildlife in 1991 dealt with mountain lion,
or pumas as he preferred to call them, on the Uncompahgre Plateau near Montrose. After his "retirement," Allen continued his
research and was updating his 1983 critical review of the scientific literature on puma at the time of his death.
In his 40s, Allen took up bicycle racing, a longtime dream. Bicycling continued to be an important part of his life after
he quit racing. He toured for many years, going on long rides alone or with friends. When his arthritis made riding standard
bikes too painful, he switched to a recumbent bike. On that bike, he rode from Montrose to Vallejo when he was 61.
Through the hard times of his life, such as bad bouts of arthritis and later heart problems, Allen relied on Marilu, jazz,
books (especially the works of S.J. Perelman and James Thurber), the wonders of the natural world, and later, time with his
grandchildren, to carry him through.
He was preceded in death by his parents and granddaughter, Chelsea Anderson. He is survived by his wife, Marilu
Anderson, two daughters, a son, a sister, a brother, and five grandchildren.