The Allamon Family: Matt, Lucas, Karen, and Randy plus Argo and Thumbelina

A Brief Biography

My first encounters with Christ were, literally, in my dreams as a child. My first thought about "what I wanted to be when I grew up" had to do with "religious service" - but - growing up in a "not very religious" family, I had no model for what that might mean. I drifted toward performance arts, becoming a professional actress at 16, and later a director, but it did not satisfy.

A move to Austin, Texas to work in advertising brought me into contact with a young man who had the gall to ask me, on our first date, if I had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We married in my parent's Presbyterian Church. A job offer in St. Louis led my husband, Randy, to express his thanksgiving by promising God we would become regular church-goers. I was not consulted. Still, I dutifully joined the South Webster Presbyterian Church. It was the first time I heard the word regularly preached.

A year later we had our first child, Matthew, and the reality of the love of God came into focus: "OH! This is how God loves us!" Still, it was another two years before I truly gave my life to Christ. The day I did that I audibly heard the voice of God telling me that He loved me. I finally understood why I'd always felt that "tug". God would not let me go. By that time I'd spent several years in business management. But the time had come to finally dive into my true calling.

I went to work as an administrative assistant for 2nd Presbyterian Church in St. Louis (and had our second son, Lucas), finished my B.F.A. at Webster University and began my M.Div. at Eden (UCC) Theological Seminary in St. Louis. There I interned at Pacific Presbyterian Church and received certification in suicide intervention from Life Crisis Services. Transferring to Princeton in 1994, I interned at Clinton (NJ) Presbyterian Church and graduated in 1996 with a preaching prize.

Further studies brought me back to PTS for work on a D.Min. in Church Application of Family Systems Theory. My initial work completed, all I lack for my D.Min. is the final project. PTS, however, discontinued their D.Min. program. I've not yet pursued completing this elsewhere.

Since I graduated, I have served the Barre Center Presbyterian church. During that time they have received 153 new members and more than doubled their budget. Barre Center won the Synod of the Northeast Excellence in Evangelism award two years in a row and was noted as one of Eli Lilly Foundation's "Outstanding U.S. Churches" (published in the book "Beyond the Ordinary: 10 Strengths of U.S. Congregations" by the PCUSA in 2004). Barre is the first church in the Genesee Valley Presbytery to establish an Emergency Preparedness Task Force.

Service to the Presbytery of Genesee Valley has included teaching as professor of worship and sacraments and site supervisor for the Commissioned Lay Pastor program, designing all Presbytery worship services for three years, leading elder and home communion sections for Leadership Training events, election to the Board of the Presbytery Foundation, and serving as an Administrative Committee Member for the COM.

Local community service included a stint as the Hospice Interim Spiritual Care Coordinator, board service for ARC's Legacy of Love Foundation, and president of the local ministerial alliance.

Randy and I recently celebrated our 26th anniversary along with becoming empty nesters. Luke has gone off for his first year of college to study history. Matt now lives in New York City where he is a set and costume designer. We are proud staff to a stuck up grey cat named Tumbelina, and loving pack members to the ferocious looking,100 pound, lamb-in-Akita/Lab-clothing: "Argo". Over the last 13 years, among other things, God has taught me to be diligent about down time. I enjoy going to visit my parents and brother's family in the Myrtle Beach area, reading, doing crosswords and cryptograms, and escaping on my day off to "go out and play" with my bff, Randy.