Eddie Keith Allen Music and Papers, 1932-1982 | The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

Eddie Keith Allen (1940-2026) was a musician, music educator, alumnus of the University of Illinois, and lifelong resident of Quincy, Illinois. Born on February 26, 1940, Eddie Keith Allen was the son of Clyde Allen and Amy (Beringer) Allen. He began playing clarinet while he was a student at Franklin Elementary School in Quincy. At age 14, he joined the Quincy Park Band and would become the group's longest tenured member, playing with the ensemble long after his career as an educator was over. As a teenager, he also performed with the Quincy Community Band and the Quincy Symphony. He graduated from Quincy High School in 1958, having studied under Daniel Perrino while he conducted the band. Allen entered the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as a music education major in the fall of 1958, having earned a full-tuition scholarship. During his time as an undergraduate, Allen performed clarinet and saxophone in the Marching Illini, Illinois Symphonic Band, and Illinois Symphony Orchestra. He also performed clarinet on the Gate 5 recording of Harry Partch's Water! Water! in 1962. He received his bachelors of music education in 1962 and his masters of education in 1966.

In 1961, Allen married Donetta Mason, with whom he had two sons, Scott Allen and Daniel Allen. Allen taught music in Shorewood, Wisconsinin (1963-1967) and Springfield, Illinois (1967-1968) before returning to Quincy and accepting the director of bands position at his alma mater, Quincy High School, in 1968. As director of bands, he conducted the concert band, marching band, pep band, jazz band and Uncle Waldo's Ragtime Band, which performed in Washington, D.C. during America's bicentennial celebration in 1976. While on faculty in the Quincy Public Schools, Allen also taught elementary music. Following his retirement in 1993, Allen conducted the Quincy University Band, earning the Charles R. Winking Memorial Award in 2005; he directed the Colver-Stockton College Band; and he was a longtime member of the Gem City Breakfast Kiwanis Club. Allen died on January 3, 2026.