Allen D. Wilson

Allen D. Wilson was born May 9, 1930 in Indianapolis, Indiana to Aldus D. Wilson and Mary (Phillips) Wilson. Siblings Robert Ernest and Vivian Arlene later joined the family. Allen sensed a call to missionary service while in High School. Following his 1949 graduation from Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis, Allen hitchhiked to Bourbonnais, Illinois to attend Olivet Nazarene University (then College). He graduated with a B.A. in Theology in 1954. He then pursued studies at Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri, graduating with a Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Divinity degrees in 1970 and 1971 respectively. He also took some courses at Anderson College in Anderson, Indiana. On July 18, 1953, Allen married Elizabeth Ann Watkins, of Springfield, Ohio, whom he met as a fellow student at Olivet Nazarene. Elizabeth was an active member of Springfield First Church of the Nazarene. Together they had three children, Bruce Allen Wilson (Linda) of Bradenton, Florida; Brian Edward Wilson (Joan) of Jupiter, Florida; and Peggy Ann Strange (Danny) of Phoenix, Arizona. Allen and Elizabeth have 7 grandchildren (Erica, Renee, David, Jennifer, Kyle, Kevin and Kasey) and 7 great grandchildren (Damian, Abbigail, Carson, Keegan, Brody, Jessie and Oscar). Allen was preceded in death by his parents Aldus and Mary, his sister Vivian Arlene Tomlin, and granddaughter Erica. His family says of Allen: “He was a good and loving husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather, and an example to all families. He was an overcomer, a survivor of childhood polio. Always the helper, he was captain of school crossing guards, member of volunteer Jr. firefighters in Indianapolis, and a member of the Boy Scouts (with two sons who proudly followed in his footsteps as accomplished Scouts). He loved serving Jesus and he formed strong relationships with so many, including colleagues and students.” Responding obediently to the call of God to serve as a Christian minister, Allen pursued ministerial credentialing and service in the Church of the Nazarene, an evangelical Christian church in the Wesleyan-Arminian holiness tradition. Shortly after his birth, his mother had enrolled him in the “Cradle Roll” department at the former Westbrook Church of the Nazarene, at the corner of Washington and Denison Streets in Indianapolis. The local church was just one block from his home and he was a regular attender. The Indianapolis District of the Church of the Nazarene granted Allen his first District Minister’s License in 1950 while he pursued his college education at Olivet Nazarene. He was ordained an elder by General Superintendent D. I. Vanderpool in 1956 on the Indianapolis District. In 1987 he transferred his credential to the Chicago Central District and then in 1997 to the Southern Florida District. Allen formally retired from full-time ministry on June 17, 1995, after serving 4 years as a local pastor, and 37 years as a global missionary. Following his college graduation, Allen served as lead pastor of three local Nazarene churches on the Indianapolis District: Willow Grove (1954-55), Warrington (1955-57) and Edinburg (1957-58). In the Summer of 1958, Allen and Elizabeth were appointed to global missionary service. After a summer of linguistics studies at the Wycliffe Institute of Linguistics in Bethany, Oklahoma, and a brief time in Mexico City, they drove with their son, Bruce, to Guatemala to begin their service among the Kekchi-speaking Mayan population of the province of Alta Verapaz. The Wilsons lived on the campus of the Nazarene Bible Institute in Coban, and taught at, and directed, the Institute until the late 1960s. Son, Brian, and daughter, Peggy, were born to the Wilsons during the family’s time of service in Guatemala. 1970 brought a move to El Salvador to fill in one year for missionaries who were on furlough, and then in 1972 the family moved to Costa Rica. There, Allen and Elizabeth taught and directed the SENDAS Nazarene Theological Seminary, served as district superintendent of the Costa Rica District and also planted a church in the Tibas neighborhood of the San Jose metropolitan area. Allen and Elizabeth later served in Colombia, South America (1984-88), and their last assignment was in the Dominican Republic (1989-1995), where they established and directed the Nazarene Bible Seminary. Their 37 years of faithful missionary service in five different countries and three different institutions of learning were spent mostly in ministerial training and establishing educational systems for ministers, along with the planting of churches. This missionary ministry resulted in a well-trained clergy and well-established churches and districts that have multiplied many times over in the ensuing decades. Many of the pastors, district superintendents, professors and institutional directors for the Church of the Nazarene in Latin America are the direct or indirect result of the ministry of Allen and Elizabeth Wilson. To God be the glory! In the Summer of 1995, the Wilsons formally retired and spent a year in Bourbonnais, Illinois. Allen and Elizabeth then moved to Bradenton/Sarasota, Florida, and were active members of the Sarasota First Church and Sarasota Trinity Church of the Nazarene, teaching Sunday School, preaching, discipling and holding Bible Studies, hosting small groups, doing pulpit supply, speaking at missions services and helping teach some ministerial training courses on the Southern Florida District. They lived in the Il Villagio missionary retirement village in Bradenton until 2022 when they transferred to Bradenton’s Bay Vue (now Aspire) Assisted Living Facility. Allen passed peacefully in his sleep, in Elizabeth’s presence, in the early morning hours August 1, 2024. Elizabeth will continue to live at Aspire ALF. The family is making plans for memorial services on Saturday, September 14 in Bradenton, Florida and Saturday, September 28 in Indianapolis, Indiana. More details to come. Sept. 14, 2024 -- Service will be held at 11:00 AM at Il Villaggio Community, 1200 Aurora Blvd., Bradenton, FL 34212. Rev. Virgil Mills will be officiating. And Sept. 28, 2024 -- Service will be held at 11:00 AM at Avon Parkside Church of the Nazarene, 47i N County Road 625 E., Avon, Indiana 46123 Notes and cards of condolence may be mailed to Elizabeth and the family, to 216 Clocktower Drive, Jupiter, FL 33458. Memorial gifts may be made for the construction of the new classrooms at the Coban Bible Institute, at https://give.nazarene.org/category/global-missions-projects/mesoamerica/5376

Allen D. Wilson

May 9, 1930 - August 1, 2024