Lady Ann

Allin and Ann outside Church Center, 1981. Watch Allin explain how Ann helped him keep his sermons short and to the point.

Strength and Stability

Allin lovingly referred to his wife as “The Lady Ann.” Ann had known Jack from an early age as he was a friend of her brother. He was often at Ann's family home and he earned a reputation with Ann as a considerate friend. When Ann was in high school, she would spend time with Jack, going on dates in Helena when he was on college breaks from Sewanee. Ann recalled years later her mother’s warning: “Ann, you know you’ll never be first with Jack. Do you understand that?” Ann recognized that “she was telling me Jack’s first love is our Lord.” ⁴  Allin married Frances Ann Kelly on October 18, 1949, in St. John’s Episcopal Church in Helena.  Jack’s affection for both his wife and his calling was evident in many ways, but captured by the inscription in his Bishop’s ring: “to Ann and Mississippi.”   He relied on her as a quiet source of strength through what was a public and highly scrutinized career. Ann was her husband’s confidant, ally, and rock.