Allison was the only daughter of Joseph McKibbin and his first wife, Anna S. Dorsey McKibbin. Her mother, Anna, died when Allison was only three years old. Her father then married Allison's aunt, her mother's elder sister.
She spent her formative years in St. Paul, where her father was a successful businessman. She attended local schools.
At the age of 29, Allison married Charles H. Bigelow, Jr., who was engaged in the hardware business as an executive. Charles later became president of the company, Farwell, Ozmun & Kirk.
During her life, Allison was deeply involved with community work. She served on the board of trustees of Macalester College, which awarded her the honorary degree of Doctor of Human Letters.
She was also a life member of the board of St. Paul Family Service and she served on the building committee of the YWCA. She had a particular interest in mental health and worked with Hasting State Hospital. Minnesota Governor Luther Youngdahl appointed Allison to his Citizens Committee on Mental Health. She also raised funds for St. Paul's Community Chest for many years.
In her last days, Allison wrote to her children: "To say I have had a happy life is not to use the right words. It has been a joyous life -- and that includes periods of melancholy, of loneliness, and many griefs and sorrows; dark searchings of the way into Light. Yet underneath a joy ... always, even from my little childhood, a great sense of richness, of fortune beyond any deserving ... oh, not any thing deserved, but all given, so that all I could do was to try like mad to give it back some way, that it shouldn't be wasted on me."
Allison passed away in St. Paul at the age of 88. Five children and grandchildren were named for her.
Biography by David M. Pierce, October 11, 2014.
Source: From her obituary.
She spent her formative years in St. Paul, where her father was a successful businessman. She attended local schools.
At the age of 29, Allison married Charles H. Bigelow, Jr., who was engaged in the hardware business as an executive. Charles later became president of the company, Farwell, Ozmun & Kirk.
During her life, Allison was deeply involved with community work. She served on the board of trustees of Macalester College, which awarded her the honorary degree of Doctor of Human Letters.
She was also a life member of the board of St. Paul Family Service and she served on the building committee of the YWCA. She had a particular interest in mental health and worked with Hasting State Hospital. Minnesota Governor Luther Youngdahl appointed Allison to his Citizens Committee on Mental Health. She also raised funds for St. Paul's Community Chest for many years.
In her last days, Allison wrote to her children: "To say I have had a happy life is not to use the right words. It has been a joyous life -- and that includes periods of melancholy, of loneliness, and many griefs and sorrows; dark searchings of the way into Light. Yet underneath a joy ... always, even from my little childhood, a great sense of richness, of fortune beyond any deserving ... oh, not any thing deserved, but all given, so that all I could do was to try like mad to give it back some way, that it shouldn't be wasted on me."
Allison passed away in St. Paul at the age of 88. Five children and grandchildren were named for her.
Biography by David M. Pierce, October 11, 2014.
Source: From her obituary.
Allison was the only daughter of Joseph McKibbin and his first wife, Anna S. Dorsey McKibbin. Her mother, Anna, died when Allison was only three years old. Her father then married Allison's aunt, her mother's elder sister.
She spent her formative years in St. Paul, where her father was a successful businessman. She attended local schools.
At the age of 29, Allison married Charles H. Bigelow, Jr., who was engaged in the hardware business as an executive. Charles later became president of the company, Farwell, Ozmun & Kirk.
During her life, Allison was deeply involved with community work. She served on the board of trustees of Macalester College, which awarded her the honorary degree of Doctor of Human Letters.
She was also a life member of the board of St. Paul Family Service and she served on the building committee of the YWCA. She had a particular interest in mental health and worked with Hasting State Hospital. Minnesota Governor Luther Youngdahl appointed Allison to his Citizens Committee on Mental Health. She also raised funds for St. Paul's Community Chest for many years.
In her last days, Allison wrote to her children: "To say I have had a happy life is not to use the right words. It has been a joyous life -- and that includes periods of melancholy, of loneliness, and many griefs and sorrows; dark searchings of the way into Light. Yet underneath a joy ... always, even from my little childhood, a great sense of richness, of fortune beyond any deserving ... oh, not any thing deserved, but all given, so that all I could do was to try like mad to give it back some way, that it shouldn't be wasted on me."
Allison passed away in St. Paul at the age of 88. Five children and grandchildren were named for her.
Biography by David M. Pierce, October 11, 2014.
Source: From her obituary.
She spent her formative years in St. Paul, where her father was a successful businessman. She attended local schools.
At the age of 29, Allison married Charles H. Bigelow, Jr., who was engaged in the hardware business as an executive. Charles later became president of the company, Farwell, Ozmun & Kirk.
During her life, Allison was deeply involved with community work. She served on the board of trustees of Macalester College, which awarded her the honorary degree of Doctor of Human Letters.
She was also a life member of the board of St. Paul Family Service and she served on the building committee of the YWCA. She had a particular interest in mental health and worked with Hasting State Hospital. Minnesota Governor Luther Youngdahl appointed Allison to his Citizens Committee on Mental Health. She also raised funds for St. Paul's Community Chest for many years.
In her last days, Allison wrote to her children: "To say I have had a happy life is not to use the right words. It has been a joyous life -- and that includes periods of melancholy, of loneliness, and many griefs and sorrows; dark searchings of the way into Light. Yet underneath a joy ... always, even from my little childhood, a great sense of richness, of fortune beyond any deserving ... oh, not any thing deserved, but all given, so that all I could do was to try like mad to give it back some way, that it shouldn't be wasted on me."
Allison passed away in St. Paul at the age of 88. Five children and grandchildren were named for her.
Biography by David M. Pierce, October 11, 2014.
Source: From her obituary.
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