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Charles Mengel Allen, son of Arthur Dwight and Jane (Mengel) Allen, was born November 22, 1916, in Louisville, Kentucky. His father was a successful businessman and later an artist, musician and philanthropist who helped establish the Louisville Art Center and Community Chest.1
Allen received his early education in the public schools of Louisville. From 1933 to 1936, he attended a private school in Orange, Virginia. He graduated cum laude from Yale College, New Haven, Connecticut, in 1941 with a B.A. degree, majoring in American History. In July 1941, he returned to Louisville and entered the University of Louisville Law School. After graduating with a LL.B. degree in June of 1943, he was admitted to the Kentucky Bar and joined the Louisville law firm of Doolin, Helm, Stites & Wood.2
After more that a decade in private practice, Allen was appointed assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky. He held that office from March 1955 until April 1959, when he resumed private practice. In 1961, the Republican Party nominated Allen for the chancery division of the Jefferson County Circuit Court. He won that election and held the position until 1971, even in years when the Democrats swept nearly all the state judgeships.3
On November 17, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon nominated Allen to the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. His nomination was confirmed by the Senate on November 30, 1971, and he took his oath of office on December 10, 1971.4 Judge Allen served as Chief Judge of the Western District from July 26, 1977 to September 30, 1985, when he became a Senior District Judge. He continued to sit until his death.
In rulings made during more that a quarter-century on the federal bench in Louisville, Judge Allen , sentenced convicted polluter Donald Distler for dumping toxic chemicals into Louisville's sewers, the toughest penalty ever handed down in a federal pollution case at the time.5 He also desegregated the Louisville police department;6 ended the practice of warehousing the mentally ill;7 and altered inhumane prison conditions.8 In an editorial, the Louisville Courier-Journal described Judge Allen as "a member of an old Louisville family with a comfortable and conservative heritage," who "repeatedly used the power of the bench to end inequality and injustice."9
Active in professional and community organizations, Judge Allen was a member of the Louisville Bar Association, the Kentucky Bar Association, the National Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. He was a former member of the Executive Committee of the Federal Trial Judges Association. He was a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 1978-1981 and served on the Committee on Administration of Criminal law from 1985-1987. In 1973, Judge Allen was named a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Louisville, School of Law, and was twice named Outstanding Alumnus (1984, 1986) of the law school. He was the recipient of the Brandeis Award in 1985 and the Thomas Hogan Memorial Foundation Award in 1986. In 1996, Judge Allen was honored by the Kentucky Bar Association as the Judge of the Year.10
Judge Allen had a life-long fascination with trains and in 1957, he helped found the Kentucky Railway Museum. For many years, he was active in the Louisville chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. He served on the board of directors of the Louisville Art Center and was a member of the Kentucky Bookmobile Committee. He was a Senior Warden and Vestryman of St. Francis In The Fields Church.11
On June 25, 1949, Allen married Elizabeth Anne Cardwell. They were the parents of two children: Charles Dwight Allen and Angela Mengel Allen (Stanford), both of whom became writers. Judge Allen died January 4, 2000, in Louisville. He was buried in the Fields Memorial Garden, Harrods Creek, Kentucky.12 |
