Mrs. Inez Gunn Allen

Inez G. “Nana” Allen, 99 of Columbia, SC and formerly of Lowell, MA, passed away on Friday, February 14, 2014. She was born in Dothan, Al to the late Annie B. (Clark) and Havard Gunn. One of three siblings and the only girl, she showered her brothers Eddie and younger brother Willie James Gunn with love and affection. Inez received her formal education in the West Palm Beach, FL public school system. She married the late Sgt. Wilbert Allen, Retired, US Army, of Chicago, IL. In addition to her late husband, parents and brothers, she was pre-deceased by her daughter Barbara Ann Allen and two grandchildren Dana Marie and Paul Allen Bynoe, Sr. Inez was a member of the Greater St. Luke Baptist Church and attended several other area community churches. Nana as she was affectionately called was a loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Inez was a woman of faith who loved to read, sew and work in her flower garden. She was an accomplished seamstress and enjoyed working puzzles. Her second love and vocation was her service as a child care provider. She would lovingly boast about the host of children that she cared for over the years in the greater Columbia and Highland Park area. Nana never met a stranger; her love of people, her forthright, no-nonsense manner, coupled with her sense of humor endeared her to the community. Nana was survived by her daughter Gwendolyn Allen Bynoe, son-in-law Herbert D. Bynoe, Jr., of Columbia and three grandchildren Sondra L. Bynoe-Doolittle, Sonya R. Bynoe of Colorado and JaVell S. Bynoe-Couch (Valarian) of Columbia, grand-daughter-in-law Tracy Simpson-Bynoe and great-grandchildren Paul Allen Bynoe, Jr., Tyler D. Doolittle, Kingston P. Tucker, Qwynn M. Bynoe, Valarian Couch, Jr., Cameron Goins and Veneita Jordan respectively of Columbia, SC, and Colorado Springs, CO. She enjoyed immensely her niece Alfredia Hamm (Norman), (CT) and nephews Alfred L. G. Gunn (Mildred), (NY), Billy G. Jackson, Sr. (Flora), (FL), William J. Johnson (FL) and their children. Over the past four years Nana was a client of Palmetto Senior Care (White Rock), where she received loving health and day care services from the PSC staff. In lieu of flowers memorials can be made to Palmetto Senior Care -White Rock, 109 Wartburg Road, White Rock, SC 29177. A memorial service will be held at Palmer Memorial Chapel on Wednesday, February 26, 2014 at 11:00 a.m., followed by her interment at the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church Memorial Garden, 1301 Pine Street, Columbia, SC.

Mrs. Inez Gunn Allen

April 7, 1914 - February 14, 2014