Published on Show Me Mizzou Aug. 27, 2024
Story by Jack Wax, BS Ed ’73, MS ’76, MA ’87
When he died this spring at age 98, Orville Duane Allen, BS Ag ’54, M Ed ’63 history as the oldest organ donor on record in the nation. He also made international news, with media reports about his liver donation reaching all the way from his hometown of Poplar Bluff, Mo., to small towns in India, as noted by Mid-America Transplant, the nonprofit that coordinated
the donation.
A lifelong resident of Southeast Missouri, Allen served in World War II, then returned to Missouri to attend Mizzou before being called up for the Korean War. He later served 27 years in the Army Reserve, from which he retired as lieutenant colonel. He farmed and taught vocational agriculture for 38 years, 37 of those in Neelyville, where he was regarded as a role model for several generations of students. He and his late wife, Geraldine, are survived by three children, all of whom graduated with degrees from Mizzou: Linda (Allen) Mitchelle, BS Ed ’72, MS Ed ’73 ; Col. Gregory Allen, BS PA ’76, MPA ’78; and Kevin Allen, BS EE ’89, BS CoE ’89.
Allen remained independent and vigorous until he fell in May while clearing storm debris from his yard. Rushed to St. Francis Hospital in Cape Girardeau with a life-ending head injury, he never regained consciousness. Family members had gathered at the hospital to say their farewells and were surprised when they learned their father might qualify to become an organ donor, despite his age.
They didn’t hesitate. “Throughout his life, it was his nature to do whatever he could for anyone who needed help,” says his daughter, Linda. She remembers that during his years as a teacher, her father would find sponsors to help pay tuition for his students who couldn’t otherwise afford college.
Because of Allen’s donation, a 72-year-old woman who desperately needed a liver transplant is alive today in Florida. A combination of Allen’s healthy lifestyle, his generosity toward others and scientific advances in organ transplantation made the organ donation possible. “Ten years ago, it would have been impossible for a 98-year-old to be accepted as an organ donor,” says Lindsey Speir, an executive with Mid-America Transplant.
“His donation is having an impact worldwide by debunking the myth that you can be too old or too sick to donate an organ,” Speir says.
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