Merlin I. Allard

ADA, Okla. — Services for Merlin I. Allard, 81, of Ada, were Sept. 27 at the Criswell Funeral Home Chapel with Father Russell Hughes officiating. Burial was in the Ft. Logan National Cemetery in Ft. Logan, Colo..He died Friday, Sept. 23, 2005, at a local hospital. He was born July 31, 1924, in St. Ignatius, Montana to Irving and Mabel Hannaford Allard. He attended elementary school in St. Ignatius and graduated from St. Maries High School in Idaho.He married Anna Payne on Oct. 1, 1949. She died on March 31, 1968. He later married Patsy Black Parks on Aug. 1, 1969. Mr. Allard served from 1942 with the U.S. Army Air Corps for two years and the U.S. Air Force for 20 years, retiring as a Master Sergeant in 1964. He was a paratrooper in the 517th, receiving a Purple Heart Commendation.

Later, he was a barber in Denver for 12 years. He moved to the Ada area in 1976 from Lakewood, Colo. Mr. Allard was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church.

Survivors include his wife, Pat Allard, of the home; six daughters, Penny Doyle of Washington, Toni Allard-Beebe of Seattle, Debbie Benefield of Arvada, Colo., Rita Tillinghast of Phoenix, Mary Nemmers of Westminster, Colo., Veronica "Cardie" Edgar of Oceanside, Calif., and Tricia Whorton of Artesia, N.M.; a son, Joe Allard of Conroe, Texas; two step-daughters, Marque Iversen of Inglewood, Colo., Lisa Whittenberg of Montrose, Colo.; a step-son, Britt Parks of Montrose; 22 grandchildren; and five great- grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by two brothers, Monte Allard and Sidney Allard.