Allen Wilford Leigh's Obituary
Allen Wilford Leigh of South Jordan, Utah, passed away peacefully on August 9, 2022, at age 86. Allen was born in Cedar City, Utah on October 22, 1935, the fourth and last child and only son of Wilford Webster Leigh and Anna Mae Langford. His youth included fun and games in the neighborhood and nearby mountains, as well as a generous share of pranks—one of which, as the final straw, landed him before a judge and started him down a more socially conscious path. Allen was unusually motivated to pursue his own unique hobbies, joining the Cub Scout-like Open Road Pioneers Club as a Lone Pioneer at around age 9 and earning his amateur (ham) radio license at age 16.
Allen graduated from Cedar City High School in 1953 as Key Club President. With money earned from jobs as a dishwasher and bellhop at El Escalante Hotel, he started his studies in Electrical Engineering at Utah State Agricultural College, also participating (as required) in Air Force ROTC. After two years, he served in the East Central States Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1956 to 1958, primarily in West Virginia. To avoid an involuntary draft, he immediately enlisted in the Utah National Guard, with the six-year commitment typical under the Reserve Forces Act. Allen loved his six months of Basic and Technical Training and serving as a Field Communications (Telephone) Crewman and (Radio) Speed Operator. He continued his military service while earning his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering from Utah State University, graduating in 1961 and 1962.
While finishing his Masters, Allen met his sweetheart, Judy Ann Thompson of Salt Lake City, and they enjoyed a few dates before he left for his first “real job” at the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. After a long-distance courtship, Allen and Judy were married the following summer, on June 7, 1963, in the Salt Lake Temple. Following a year enjoying the history and culture of the D.C. area, they moved to Tucson, where Allen began a Ph.D. program in Electrical Engineering at the University of Arizona. An assignment involving computer programming, however, sparked his desire to switch from hardware to software, and, in 1965, he left doctoral work to begin eleven years of work in field service engineering and diagnostic software programming at General Electric and Motorola.
Allen and Judy had four children during their time in Arizona: Allen “Chad”, Jonathan “Seth”, Sara Beth, and Tova Ann. In February 1976, Allen took a new job as a software engineer at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), and he and Judy spent seventeen happy years raising their family in the beautiful, small New England town of Pepperell, Massachusetts. After taking night classes through Boston University’s Metropolitan College, Allen received a second Master’s degree in Computer Information Systems in January 1985. In 1992, he accepted an early retirement program from DEC called Engineers into Education, and, the next year, he and Judy moved back to Utah to be close to her aging parents. Allen took classes at Westminster College with the goal of becoming a high school computer science teacher, but he instead enjoyed serving as an adjunct instructor and database programmer at Westminster until his retirement at age 71.
Beyond work, Allen’s life was filled with church service and hobbies. Allen served in many positions in his various LDS congregations, from counselor in the bishopric to Primary (children’s) teacher to clerk and librarian. His favorite, however, was Scoutmaster, and he served in that role for seventeen years during his time in Arizona and Massachusetts. Allen loved the Scout Program, and he was a natural leader, effectively teaching responsibility and encouraging achievement in the boys with whom he worked. Many of his happiest memories involved campouts and hiking trips, particularly those in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. He even established a campground (with monkey bridge!) in the woods behind the family home in Massachusetts.
Allen’s three greatest hobbies were amateur radio, running, and writing. He participated in ham radio clubs and emergency response coordination in Utah, Arizona, and Massachusetts. To counter growing stiffness, he began running in his late 30s; he ran four marathons and many other races, and he continued running or walking as much as possible until nearly the day he died. His writing hobby resulted in a computer-related print newsletter, a short piece in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, a few articles in Computer Science teaching journals, a paper on God as engineer for the Claremont Mormon Studies Conference in 2009, and multiple books, including three editions of A Geezer Looks Back and two of Generations of Websters. An early blogger, Allen published numerous blogs and websites, garnering almost 3 million views. His most popular sites included Old Man Running (700,000 views on over 2000 posts), Running Injury Free (1.38 million views on 79 posts), and Allen Leigh’s Mormon (LDS) Site(630,000 views on posts ranging from the Atonement to whole wheat recipes). He also published several sites centered on his own and Judy’s family history. The bulk of his time in retirement was spent sitting at his computer, working on these books and websites.
Allen’s memory will be treasured by his wife of 59 years, Judy Thompson Leigh; his children and their spouses Chad (Seiko) Leigh, West Jordan, UT; Seth (Kristin) Leigh, San Tan Valley, AZ; Sara (Glen) Maisey, Evanston, WY; and Tova (Mark) Choate, Provo, UT (deployed in N’Djamena, Chad); his eleven grandchildren; and many brothers- and sisters-in-law and nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his sisters Billie L. Esplin, Norma (Julius) Rudinsky, and Colleen (Robert) Cook. His passing marks the end of a generation in the Leigh family, but he looked forward to a glorious reunion with loved ones in the hereafter.
Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, August 13, 2022, at the LDS meetinghouse at 3407 W. 9625 S. in South Jordan, UT, with a visitation starting at 9 a.m. Interment will be at South Jordan City Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Huntsman Cancer Foundation.
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