Allen C. Boam Obituary (1938 - 2017)

In lieu of flowers the family has requested donations are to be made to the American Cancer Society. https://www.cancer.org/ Allen C. Boam passed away suddenly at 79 years young. Allen was born in Oakland and raised in Albany, California to Forbes and Edith Boam. He was the youngest of five children and attended Albany High School. Allen served his country by enlisting in the Army Reserve in 1957 where he served in Fort Ord. Allen married in 1958 and worked as a glazer while raising three children with his first wife in the Walnut Creek area. In 1983, he married Chris and started their life in Antioch. Allen and Chris retired to Shingle Springs in 2005. Allen was preceded in death by his parents, brother Melvin, son-in-law Mark, and granddaughter Brooke. He is survived by his wife Chris, sisters Dora and Lois, brother Tom, his children Lisa, Michael, Carrie, and Angie, thirteen grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. Allen was the owner and sole operator of Superior Glass Company. His work ethic was demonstrated through numerous comments on his trucks being seen all over the country. As a young father, he was active with the Mount Diablo District of the Boy Scouts of America. Allen also served as a reserve officer with the Walnut Creek Police Department for ten years. Allen enjoyed gardening, snow skiing, yoga, coin collecting, cooking, and spending time with his family and friends. He will be remembered for his generosity, zest, and vigor for life, but especially for his outgoing nature and sense of humor. Allen was a man who stood his moral ground while setting this example for everyone around him. Allen Boam's Euology: Good Morning, My name is Joe Thuesen. I am Allen Boam's son-in-law. First, let me say thank you on behalf of the family, his wife, Chris, his daughter Lisa, his son, Michael, his daughter Carrie, and daughter, Angie, his brother Tom, sisters Lois and Dora, all of his 13 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Thank you for taking the time today to come celebrate the life of Allen C. Boam. Allen would be very humbled but excited and grateful for all of his friends and family to be gathered today. To anyone Allen met he would immediately make friends. His good-natured and easygoing attitude about life instantly created a bond of humankind when he chatted with you. With every person Allen met, he made a friend. On December 3, 2017, Allen suddenly passed away. Allen was doing what he liked to do; talking with a neighbor friend after blowing some leaves off his front driveway. These seem like such normal, simple life tasks, but are just what Allen would want to be doing when time came to leave the surely bonds of earth. The book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, verse one, states, "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted...a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to get, a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away...a time to keep silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time of war and a time of peace...God hath made everything beautiful in his time." Allen lived on his own time. He made a conscious effort to enjoy every day, to embrace the day with enthusiasm. In the almost 30 years that I knew him and grew to love him, I never remember a day when he was saddened about facing the day. Some may not know this, but Allen was born to parents who were deaf and he would say things like "I never heard my parents yell at me." This gave a unique view of life. Allen approached life with the enthusiasm of work hard and play hard. He knew life is short but made every moment count sweetly. He lived an honorable and good life. A couple of years ago we almost lost Allen to a skiing accident. Allen had gone skiing in Tahoe and while coming down the mountain he remembered very little about how the accident occured or what exactly happened; but regardless he was taken to the local hospital in Tahoe and then flown to Reno, the Renoun Trauma Center. Upon arrival, Chris and I walked into the ICU to find Allen with more than half of his ribs broken, a broken, cut, and bruised face and body. Upon hearing our voices, he opened his eyes and gave us a smile and a usual Papaism of "Hey Joe, off your ass and on your feet." Papaisms: for members of his family, a Papaism is one of Allen's favorite lines and his children and grandchildren especially know these sayings because they hear them so often. Allen's grandson Ben recording them in his phone: "I had dandies and fines, a few cutes here and there, but never any awfuls or bads." (referring to grades in school) "Always have an extra one." "It's only money." "They said I didn't follow directions. Well, I didn't have to." "I don't argue with her because I always lose." "My get up and go got up and went." "That's a dope." "What are you doing? I'm mildewing." At breakfast at Denny's with his grandson Ben, he would never let Ben pay; he would just say "She gives me money." "If I can stick a fork in it, I'll eat it." "I went to school to eat my lunch." Allen was proud of his family, his honorable service in the Army, and once told me that he had very few regrets in life. One of them was that he regretted not going in the Marines, even though he had served his country honorably in the Army and National Guard, which I find intriguing. Other regrets were very personal that he shared with me but were life lessons that we should all remember: Take time to love your friends and family. Do things that make you happy. Work if only you love what you do. If not, find a job that makes you happy. Allen found a job which he truly loved doing. For more than 45 years, Allen worked as a Glazier. He loved fixing things and putting the pieces back anew. I believe that to be cathartic. He loved it. Allen also enjoyed being a reserve police officer. He enjoyed going and sitting with dispatchers. Years later a dispatcher from Walnut Creek Police Department remembers and appreciates that. Thank you to all of the members from Walnut Creek Police Department who are here today. Thank you to Chief Thomas Chuplin for his kind words and for sending the representatives to us today. Thank you to Captain Chris Flatz for his kind words and support. Thank you to Sergeant Steven Gara-Vaglia, Sergeant Lee Hervington, Dispatcher Jackie Boucher, Officer Bruce Hahn, retired Captain Neil Strutton, Officer Charley Novelloand, and all of the WCPD force for their love, thoughts of support to our family during this time of loss for all of us. Thank you for being a part of Allen's life. If you didn't know, Allen once assisted the FBI and helped bring about changes to contractors who were cheating the taxpayers. Allen loved his country, loved life, loved to ski, loved working hard. Allen was a son, a brother, an uncle, a son-in-law, a father, a grandfather, a great-grandfather, a mentor, a friend. He was once described as a husband to Chris as "Where did you get him? Out of a husband catalogue?" My wife, Angela, fondly remembers at about eight years old, this man came to fix the screen door and never left. Chris and Allen were married for 34 years. Life will never be the same without him. We will have to wait until we get to the other side to re-engage with Allen and those who have passed before us; for death is a part of life. We all know this, but all wish it wasn't so. Personally, Allen was a great mentor to me. He helped me to become a man from the time I was 16 years old. His gentle giant ways, his suggestions of how to do things, the surprise "Hey, let's go to lunch" ways and conversations were his subtle ways of passing on the lessons in life that he had learned, maybe even the hard way. He took time to mentor and love me, and was always proud, never disappointed but if he was, I never knew that. I am thankful for him and all that he taught me, for all the Papaisms. Papa Allen, Thank you for being you, for believing in me, for loving Angela, Joey, Ben, Alissa, and Emma, for always being there for us. Thank you for being our rock, to talk with us, to love on us, for your outlook on life, your positive spirit, for all the times you made us smile and laugh, for all the jokes, the Papaisms, for sharing your life with us, for sharing your children with us. The world that you saw was always a half full glass and not half empty. You knew when something was broken, you could fix it. We thought we would have you until, like you said, when your pool warranty expired, which is 25 years from now. We thought this beautiful spirit of a man would live to be be 104 because that's how he lived life. Unbeknownst to us, God called you home sooner and when we ask why, we don't have an answer, but I know you have said to me, "Joe, it's gonna be ok." So, we have to believe that it's gonna be ok. We're gonna miss you Pop! We love you. Judy's Speech: Good Morning, my name is Judy Singer and I am Allen's niece. My mother Dora is Allen's sister, at age 93. Mom was the oldest of 5 children, in the Boam family, and Allen was the youngest, arriving 14 years later. I'd like to tell you how Allen became the person most of you know--a happy, loving, caring, and funny personality; who enjoyed working hard at his many endeavors. Without a doubt, Allen's special parents displayed the most wonderful attributes that they passed on to their children and grandchildren--leaving a legacy we are all very proud of. My grandparents, Edith and Crom, were deaf mutes, who met at the Berkeley School for the Deaf. As their first child, my mom's native language was signing. Luckily she had a grandmother and aunts who taught her to speak. She in turn taught Tom, who came along 6 years later, and Lois, born 4 years after that, and Melvin 2 years later and finally Allen. They were all equally at home signing to their parents. My grandfather was a talented carpenter, creating parquet floors in the mansions of San Francisco, working in Alaska, Hawaii, and on the UC campus. He worked hard to support his large family, and though he had to prove himself, being deaf, my grandfather did not see his handicap as an obstacle. Very Obviously, Grampa passed on that work ethic, as well as his sunny and easy-going personality to Allen and his other children. My grandmother was great fun and laughed a lot. She could hear and speak just a little and would mispronounce words that, in total, became a family vocabulary that we all use to this day. Even our names were changed in grandma's lingo--Allen was Alfin, I was Shootie, my cousin Denise was Tennessee, her sister Joni was Shonnie, etc, etc. In the beginning, my grandmother worked as a maid and a cook for a wealthy family in San Fransisco. She left when she had a family of her own to raise. As my Aunt Lois put it, "we all lived in a small two bedroom Albany house and were poor, though we really didn't know it, since we loved and enjoyed each other so much". My mother, being a teenager when Allen was a small boy, watched over him, as he was very adventurous at an early age. Mom's friends all thought he was adorable. They dressed him up and took the little blonde, tousled-haired boy everywhere with them. He obviously enjoyed the attentions of so many lovely young ladies and was quite well behaved. However, he was also a little scamp and once tried to shoot a fly with a Beebee gun inside the house, resulting in a shattered window. Flash forward to high school, where Allen met Linda, his first wife and mother to his children--Lisa, Michael, and Carrie. After serving in the Army Reserve at Ft. Ord, they married and Linda was swept up into the burgeoning Boam Family--by this time, all of the brothers and sisters were married and had their own children. Linda so enjoyed the comradery of this amazing Boam clan. I remember our family gatherings, and being the oldest cousin, taking care of toddlers and babies, while our fathers raucously played cards; in their element, laughing and joking. While the women, in typical 1950's-60's fashion, were in the kitchen cooking, doing dishes, and equally enjoying each other. We had a great time dancing to music of the day, and I taught everyone the latest dance steps. Holidays, birthdays, and any reason to be together was the norm, as we all lived near each other in Albany and El Cerrito. We loved taking trips to the ocean to picnic and barbecue. One Easter, I brought pink bunny ears and fluffy tails for all the men to wear and took photos of them. Everyone was game for such hilarity. Allen and Linda eventually moved their family to a lovely home in Walnut Creek, where they hosted numerous holiday events. Their daughter Lisa and son-in-law Mark lived in Washington and Oregon where they raised their daughters. Their son Mike went into the Navy, married, and raised his daughters and son in Washington. The youngest, Carrie, married and later moved with her husband Lonnie to Sonora, where they raised their daughters and son. As the families expanded and moved further away, other life changes occurred, including the passing of our beloved grandparents, as well as losing my father--the ringleader of the men. Then, the ending of a few marriages, such as Allen's. In time though, both Allen and Linda started new lives with wonderful mates. We all loved Chris immediately and were so happy that she and Allen found each other. A new chapter began, as Allen embraced Chris' family: daughter Angie, and later her husband and children. He was particularly wonderful with Chris' disabled sister, Janis. We were touched by all the work he did at their Antioch home, putting in wheelchair ramps so that Janis could enjoy visits and family holidays. Retiring and moving to Shingle Springs, to a larger house and sizeable property was unbelievable to many of us, but so very Allen--most retirees would downsize, but not my uncle. Remember: work was his middle name and we all marveled at the massive projects he took on--using tractors to dig up and move huge boulders, clearing his land to plant a variety of plants, vegetables, and fruit, a raised pool that we all enjoyed, and stone pathways. He was a miracle worker and thrived continually on new projects. One of the funniest moments I remember, earlier this year, is seeing Uncle Al coming to mom's door with two 5 foot long items, cradled in his arms, and then realizing he brought us two of his huge onions, still on their long stalks, with flowers at the end, for gosh sakes. It was so very funny! He always loved to share the fruits of his labors, whether bringing us giant onions or his famous berries! To reiterate, Allen and his brothers and sisters were and are extremely close, loving to get together and watch over one another, despite the distances between their homes--with special relationships to each other--so bonded by their beginnings and their loving parents. They even met each year in December to have their very own "Sibling's Christmas"--quite a remarkable bunch. One last thought--Allen gave of himself to family, friends, neighbors, Boy Scout troupes, and the Police reserves and I'm sure many others. My brother Terry, who is home caring for our mom, remembers his uncle teaching him as a teenager, to ride Allen's new BMW motorcycle in the nearby fields. He was thrilled that Allen trusted him with the bike and it made an impression on him. I remember that after I went through a divorce and was living alone, my uncle gave me a large chest of tools, as he knew I was handy and would need them in my new single life. I think of Allen every time I use those tools. He was also known for giving my mom and others robes and pajamas, and sweaters and coats--things to keep them warm and cozy. I know we will all miss the presence of our Allen. My dear uncle, you were very thoughtful, and like a big Teddy bear to hug. I will always love and miss you, and I wish you well on your new Journey.