Ann Mary Meek Allen was born August 5, 1885 in Tennessee, the daughter of Lafayette Meek and Mary Powell Meek, both graduates of Vanderbilt University. Her grandfather Zephaniah Meek was the editor of a Kentucky Methodist publication, The Central Methodist. Her father Lafayette was likewise a minister, but he died only a few months after Ann Mary was born, and she and her mother lived with an uncle, Lewis Powell, who served pastorates in Kentucky and Tennessee. There would be occasional mentions in Nashville papers of “Annie Mary” as she was growing up. She graduated from the Millersburg Female College in Millersburg, Kentucky would go on to do graduate work at the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois. On May 30, 1906 she married Frank Waller Allen, an up-and-coming Disciples of Christ minister, author, and lecturer. The wedding took place at Central College in Lexington, Missouri. Their daughter Mary Jane was born the following year. In 1910 they were living in Monroe, Illinois. With a steady stream of books and lectures continued to gain prominence. In 1914 he accepted the pastorate of the First Christian Church of Springfield, Illinois. At Springfield Ann Mary operated a PTA-sponsored kindergarten that was eventually incorporated into the school system. Ann Mary’s mother also moved to Springfield and taught there. When Frank’s interests in “New Thought” caused some tension in his pastorate he resigned from the church in 1917. He became increasingly involved in the Unity groups that met in the Dana home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1924 the couple and daughter moved to Long Beach, California, but the marriage came to an end there and Ann Mary returned to Springfield, where her mother had remained as a leader of the Unity group. Ann Mary became a caseworker for the Illinois Welfare System. She wrote about Welfare-related matters and reviewed books for the Illinois State Journal. Mary Meek died in 1941 and Ann Mary remained in Springfield until 1948, when she returned to California to be closer to her daughter’s family. Frank had died in 1936. She continued her efforts in the welfare field until retirement, and died in 1969.

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