Prominent patron of the arts in LV, Allen dies at 67

Kris Hill

Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2001 | 11:01 a.m.

Tove Allen used to tell her daughter, Cathy, about her experiences as a girl in Denmark during World War II.

"She was very proud that during World War II the Danish king wouldn't hand over the Jews to the invading Germans," Cathy Allen said.

That pride in her native Denmark never left Tove Allen, who died Sunday after more than two years battling ovarian cancer. She was 67.

She was born July 25, 1933, in Skagen, Denmark. She lived in the Scandinavian country until she was 18, when she emigrated to the United States.

She met her husband, John M. Allen, in 1954, and the couple married in Wyoming in 1955. The Allens moved with their three children to Las Vegas in 1969.

"She's a Dane and there's no doubt about it," Eileen Hayes, founder of the Nevada Opera Theatre, said.

Allen spoke beautiful Danish, Hayes said.

"Sometimes she would tell a joke in Danish and I would tell her it sounded funny," even though Hayes didn't understand what Allen was saying, she said.

She worked with Allen through the Nevada Opera Theatre that Hayes founded in 1985. Allen joined the opera company's board in 1987 and soon after founded the Nevada Opera Theatre Guild.

Allen and the guild supported the opera by organizing fund-raisers and helping develop outreach programs to educate the community about the importance of the arts.

Allen helped develop the program that sends the company's performers to Clark County elementary schools each spring to perform "Hansel and Gretel" and "Little Red Riding Hood."

And at Hayes' suggestion, the guild conceived and developed the Tove Allen Scholarship Fund in 1996, which gives scholarships to high school seniors who place in the top three in an annual competition.

The first scholarships were handed out in fall 1998, just a few months after Allen was diagnosed with cancer.

Allen was an avid supporter of all the arts, not just the opera, Cathy Allen said.

What was so unique about her mother was that she felt the arts should be supported and enjoyed by everyone, not just artists.

"She believed in the arts," her daughter said.

Tove Allen's passion for the arts earned her a reputation for not taking no for answer.

One woman told Cathy Allen that even though she wanted to say no, she knew she couldn't because if Tove Allen asked, she just had to do it.

"Tove was a tremendous asset ... just a tireless worker," Hayes said.

Many days Allen would work at her full-time job, then spend hours more working on behalf of the opera company, Hayes said. Allen worked for many years as an executive for stores such as Bullock's, Saks Fifth Avenue and Diane Freis.

To the end she remained involved in the Nevada Opera Theatre, as well as other organizations such as the Friends of Charleston Heights Arts Center, but on a more limited scale, Cathy Allen said.

Hayes remembers their relationship and her friend's passion for the arts fondly.

"We were like sisters," Hayes said. "We didn't always agree on what was best for the opera company, but most of the time we did."

In addition to daughter Cathy Athen, Tove Allen is survived by her husband, John; daughter Julie T. Pruitt of Houston; a son, John W. Allen of Houston and 11 grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. today at Bunkers Mortuary and 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Relief Society Room at the Francisco Park Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1925 Palora Ave. Services will be noon Wednesday at the Francisco Park Ward.

The family suggests donations to the Opera Theatre's Tove Allen Scholarship Fund or Nathan Adelson Hospice.