OPINION|
The late and secretive Bobby Allison, Springfield's generous and mysterious philanthropist, has two living half sisters.
Allison, who died of kidney failure Sept. 8, 2022, spoke little about his family other than to praise his mother, Betty, for raising him. She was a single mom who worked multiple jobs to make ends meet. Betty Allison died in 2002.
Her only child was Bobby, who had no children and rarely mentioned his father.
Many of the recipients of Allison's philanthropy over the years have erected signs commemorating the financial support, such as the Betty and Bobby Allison Miracle League Ball Field at Dan Kinney Park at 2701 S. Blackman Road in east Springfield.
Perhaps the biggest sign is at the Betty & Bobby Allison Sports Town, located on West Chestnut Expressway and North Farm Road 107 (Airport Boulevard.)
I've learned more about Bobby Allison's father due to recent court filings dealing with Allison's trust.
A document lists two half-sisters, on his father's side: Deborah Ann McClure, 67, and Denise Lynn Anderson, 64, both of Lexington, Kentucky.
Neither half-sister apparently is mentioned in Allison's will. I reached out to both of them and did not hear back by the deadline for publication.
Obituary for Bobby Allison's father makes no mention of Bobby Allison
Their father, as well as Bobby Allison's father, is Robert Marks Allison, who was born in Fayette County, Kentucky, where Lexington is located.
Bobby's full name is “Robert Mark Allison Jr.,” without an “S” at the end of Mark.
Robert Marks Allison was born Jan. 28, 1910. He would have been 38 when Bobby Allison was born in 1948. Robert Marks Allison died May 29, 1993, in Lexington.
His obituary in the Lexington Herald-Leader makes no mention of a son. It makes no mention of a prior marriage or ex-wife.
But it does mention his two daughters and their husbands; three grandchildren; and his surviving wife Dorothy Gentile Allison.
I wonder if any of them even knew Bobby existed.
The wife, Dorothy Gentile Allison, died in 2019 at 100. Her obituary states that she married Robert Marks Allison in 1955 — she would have been 36 and he would have been 45.
Robert Marks Allison, Bobby's father, owned B & R Liquors in Lexington. Over the years, stories in the Lexington newspaper mention the weddings of the daughters, who both were in sororities and graduated college.
Bobby's father served in World War II
The Lexington newspaper also tracked Robert Marks Allison's military career during World War II, along with countless other servicemen.
Bobby Allison joined the Marine Corps Reserve in the late 1960s.
What I know about Bobby's mother — Betty Allison — is that she was born in 1922 in Coffeyville, Kansas. Her maiden name was Betty Jean Hicks. Her obituary states she graduated from high school in Coffeyville.
I wondered how she would have met serviceman Robert Marks Allison. Maybe there once was an Army base in Coffeyville? There was.
It's now the site of the Coffeyville Municipal Airport. Early in 1942, the War Department built a basic training field outside Coffeyville.
Next, I wondered if Robert Marks Allison was ever stationed there. He was.
I found this in the Jan. 14, 1943 edition of the Lexington Herald-Leader:
“Sergt. Robert M. Allison has returned to Coffeyville, Kan., after spending a 10-day furlough with his parents.”
In order to give away millions, you first must have millions
In hindsight, I still haven't accomplished my No. 1 objective in writing the Bobby Allison profile. How did he become a millionaire?
As a young man, he was a car salesman. Since approximately 1976, he worked in sales at Custom Protein, which blends animal and marine byproducts that are used in pet food. The plant is in North Springfield.
If Bobby Allison held some type of patent that made him rich, as some suggest without knowing any details, I couldn't find it.
I tried several times without success to get Bobby Allison to talk to me. Not only did he decline, he actively encouraged his network of friends not to talk to me. He said he was a private person and didn't want the attention.
That always intrigued me because why, then, did he have his name and his mother's name on so many signs across Springfield? He could have given anonymously.
Despite his lack of cooperation, I wrote the profile of him, unaware he had health problems, and he died three months later.
For this story, I also reached out to Jeff Hutchens, one of Allison’s closest friends. Hutchens oversees the administration of Allison's trust. Hutchens is president and CEO of Hutchens Industries, which has manufacturing plants in Seymour and Mansfield and headquarters in Springfield.
I did not hear back from Hutchens by deadline for publication.
This is Pokin Around column No. 169.
