As a child, Glen and his family spent several winters at Cripple Creek while his father, Ira, worked in the silver mines.  They would then return home for the summer to work the farm and pay for their homestead.  Glen began first grade at Cripple Creek.  He told Gwen his name was etched in the desk he sat in at the Cripple Creek school.

Glen & Nora (Busby) Allen were married January 29, 1910.  Glen picked up Nora in a "One Horse Open Shay'" and took her to Wray to become his beloved wife for 65 years.
 

They first lived at Beecher Island for a year and a half in the dugout that Velma & John Ekberg had lived in.  Glen worked for Harry Strangways and Henry McKinney.  Two black haired boys were added to the family, Kenneth Wilson and Byron Berl. Then Glen and Nora signed up to take over a homestead one mile southeast of Beecher.  When you signed up for a homestead, you had to pay the taxes and then make improvements to the land within 5 years.  After a year and a half they were able to build a sod house on this land.  Bernice Rose was the first child born in the sod house.  During this time, Glen made trips to Haigler, Nebraska with wheat which he had ground into flour for cooking and baking and to purchase lumber.  In 1916 he had enough lumber for a barn.  In 1917 Glen was able to purchase a Model-T which sped up the transportation of these necessary items.  In 1919 he bought a Model-T truck.  This truck he also used to make trips to Haigler, Nebraska to trade wheat for flour.  Soon he was bringing loads of lumber back to use to build a five-room house.  Bernice was so excited and ran over to the new house on move-in day. Three more black haired children were added to the family -  Melvin, Gwendolyn and Darlene.

Glen was extremely good at exemplifying confidence as he and his sons tilled the soil together using six to eight teams of horses and in 1929 thought they had struck it rich.  They were able to buy new  cars!  Berl bought a Model-A Roadster, Ken a Sports Coupe with a rumble seat, and Glen a 29 Whippet.  I wonder if this is the year that Glen also bought Pete a new bicycle!  Glen had his money in one bank, so Berl put his in the other bank.

One year the horses were turned out into the corn field and a bunch of them died.  Ken spouted off saying I am not going to buy any horses that are going to die on you, so he went and bought a tractor.  Tragedy struck when Ken was working for Bill Schieble with a early model tractor.  Ken took the cap off of the radiator while the tractor was still hot and the steam spewed out all over his face and chest burning his chest badly.  Nora rushed over to care for him and returned home to attend to the rest of her family once she thought he well on the road to recovery.  Ken later developed pneumonia and was gone before they could blink.  It really shook the family but Glen and Nora believed that a strong family could endure almost anything.  They believed that somehow, someway, things would eventually come out all right.  Later that year, the bank they had put their money in also when under costing them all of their savings.  Bernice had to come home from college.  It had been a devastating time.

Then the depression and the dust bowl days hit, so again they buckled down and tightened their belts.  Nora sold eggs for three cents a dozen and corn was sold for anywhere between nine and twelve cents a bushel.

 In 1948 they gave the farm to Gwen and Hubert and left everything behind except Grandpa's fiddle and a few cooking utensils and moved to Berthoud, Colorado.  They spent 10 delightful years there.  Bernice went up and helped Nora pick out a new bedroom set for $199.95 and a dining room set for $129.95.  Nora planted a beautiful garden of flowers that she loved to putter in.  During the week they maintained the Estes Park golf course for extra income.  Glen mowed the lawns on the course and Nora attended the flower beds.  They batched in a little cabin near the golf course during the week and returned to their house in Berthoud on the weekends.  They really enjoyed life at the foot of the mountains they so loved so much.  They entertained friends in Berthoud and played cards with the Lindgrens.  In 1958 they moved back to Wray and bought the house at 405 West 10th street.  It had a few acres that Glen planted to alfalfa which he enjoyed growing and harvesting.   Nora planted another beautiful flower garden here that she loved to share with her family and friends and especially with her grandchildren.