Doing Somebody Some Good

"Jack," 1944

Early Conversion

John Maury “Jack” Allin was born April 22,1921, in Helena, Arkansas to Richard and Dora Allin.  They lived with his grandparents who attended St. John’s Episcopal Church, but Jack spent his early years at the Baptist Church, which his mother attended.  He went along for Sunday school until he was around ten years old.  It was about then that he remembered a Sunday school encounter with a teacher who asked him about whether he had been saved or baptized.  Feeling distressed by her question, Jack asked his mother if she would arrange with the choir mistress at St. John’s for him to visit the Episcopal Church. From then on, he sang in the choir with his school pals until their voices began to crack and they were old enough to assume the duties of an acolyte.  Even at a young age, Allin said he was drawn to the ritual, the vestments the priests wore, and the formality of the worship at St. John’s. He was ordained there, and both he and his wife Ann were baptized, confirmed, and married there. Throughout his life, he always considered St. John’s his home church.