Christopher Allan, M.D. (PATH ’71)

May 26, 1940- July 25, 2023

ALLAN, Dr. Christopher J.

Christopher J. Allan, M.D., died peacefully on July 25, 2023, in the care of Mary Ellen Allan, his wife of 58 years, following complications from Parkinson’s disease. Chris was born in Ypsilanti, MI, on May 26, 1940, to Alexander and Annie Davidson Allan. He was raised in Eaton Rapids, MI, (the only Eaton Rapids on Earth) where he claimed that he was not much of an athlete but competed successfully in extemporaneous speaking contests.

Chris graduated from Albion College and the University of Michigan Medical School. He was elected to six national scholarship societies: National Honor Society, Phi Eta Sigma, Beta Beta Beta, Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Omega Alpha, and Phi Kappa Phi. In medical school, he conducted research under an American Cancer Society research fellowship.

At Albion College in 1961, he met the love of his life, the beautiful Mary Ellen Watts, and they were married in 1965. They were both Phi Beta Kappa graduates and trilingual. She taught French and Spanish at the high school and junior high level, while he was president of his college Spanish Club and French book club.

After an internship in Grand Rapids, MI, he spent four years in residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at the Mayo Clinic, followed by service in the United States Air Force in Montgomery, AL. He practiced pathology at Northside and Scottish Rite Hospitals in Atlanta. Scottish Rite presented him with the Wood Lovell Award. He was a Jr. Medical Association of Atlanta Board Member, a member of the Atlanta Clinical Society, and was president of both the Atlanta Society of Pathologists and the Georgia Society of Pathology.

He had myriad interests including languages (having published papers in English, French, and Spanish); music (learning to play bagpipes in his forties and then playing for ten years with the Atlanta Pipe Band); cartoons; poems; sculpture in wood, stone, and clay; gardening; cooking; travel; and fly fishing (spending countless hours bouncing around North Georgia in an old International Scout in search of the perfect spot).

Examples of published writing include “How to Lose Your Hearing Without Losing Your Mind,” presented in Spanish to the Congreso Médico Nacional in Costa Rica, and a paper in French, “From a Place of Destruction to a Place of Life and Hope,” in “La Dépêche du Midi.”

He was an avid collector of art, books, coins, and fine wine (and consumer of the latter). He was a member of the Commanderie de Bordeaux and often spared little expense in his efforts to find the best inexpensive bottle of wine. He and Mary Ellen were members of the Atlanta Toulouse Sister Cities Society and established long-term friendships with their hosts as well as those whom they hosted on associated visits.

Chris is survived by his wife, Mary Ellen; sons, Brian (Amy) and Roger; grandchildren, Alex, Ashley, and Kade Allan; sisters, Julie (Jack) Lawler and Alexanne (Richard) Whitney; brother, K.C. Allan; and numerous nieces, great-nieces, nephews, and great-nephews.

A memorial Service will be held Saturday, August 19, 2023 at 2:00 PM at H.M. Patterson and Son, Arlington Chapel, 173 Allen Rd., NE, Sandy Springs, GA 30328.