Loss of a mentor
- Published in Corporate News
It is with sadness that we report that Dewayne’s mentor, MacDonald Pine, passed away on August 7, 2015. Mac was the man who picked up Dewayne in Hayti, MO. in 1957 as Dewayne was hitchhiking his way home to Piggott, AR., from , Joliet, IL. During the course of the ride of some 50 miles, Mac offered Dewayne a job in his highway landscaping company in Springfield, Illinois. Dewayne took the job offer and moved to Illinois. After a summer of working at Pine and Company, Mac sent him to Springfield Junior College. The next year and the ensuing years, Mac paid tuition and books for Dewayne to go to University of Illinois plus gave him a job for the time he was not in college. Dewayne graduated from University of Illinois with a degree in civil engineering and began working in highway paving. Eventually, his interest turned to manufacturing machines for concrete and thus, Allen Engineering Corporation was born. It would not have happened if not for Mac.
Mac was born in July 1926. He grew up in Jacksonville, Illinois. He was a WWII veteran working in building runways in the Pacific islands. He was a man of high ideals and many ideas. He lived in Springfield, Illinois, most of his life. His wife, Maxine, preceded him in death. He leaves two children: Danny of Florida and Dicey who lives in Israel.
Jay MacDonald Allen is Mac’s namesake. And, of course, there would be no Mary Ann Allen if Dewayne had not come to Illinois and found her!
We owe Mac a lot! We will miss him.
