From France, to Canada, to America -- that is how Robert (Bob) Allen got his wife Lucette.  They were introducted while he was on an LDS Mission to France; but it was always a three-some whenever they were in the same area: Bob, his companion, and Lucette.  Bob said he didn't know if Lucette felt the same as he did at the time.  Lucette is from Nantes, France--an area well known for carrots and artichokes.  In fact, if you check your carrot seed pakcets, they most liekly came form Nantes.

Lucette was born February 1941, during WWII.  For France, WWII started in 1939 and by 1940 France was occupied by Germany.  She has some stories to tell about the war and how it affected her family.  She has two brothers and two sisters.  Her monther, who is 92, still lives by herself in France.  Bob was born August 1938 in Provo.  He is the oldest child with one brother and two sisters.  In order for Bob and Lucette to be married, Lucette went to Canada on a tourist Vis because the U.S. quota for immirgrants from France was filled.  Bob also went to Canada and they were married in the Cardston, Albert Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on February 16, 1963.  After visiting some of Bob's relatives in Canada they traveled to Provo.  They just celebrated their 51st Anniversary.

They have two boys and four girls:  Ethan lives in Alpine, Utah and has five children; Jennifer lives in Stansbury Park, Utah; Renae lives in Bountiful and has six children; Colleen lives in Anchorage, Alaska and has two children; Rex lives in Salem and has four children, and Gloria lives in Provo.  That gives them 17 grandchildren.

Lucette is a trained accountant, having attended the Ecole Vial, an Ecole Polytecnique, a type of National School set up during the French Revolution.  It was like a trade school with a girl's school and a boy's school separate from each other.  She worked for Bank of France (like the Federal Reserve here) after she graduated.  Bob graduated from BYU HIgh School.  When he was 17 and still in high school, he joined the Utah National Guard.  A familiar Palmyra resident, Eldon Money, was in the same Unit.  He was in the Guard for eight years.

Growing up, Bob's father worked for the U.S. Government part of his life.  He worked at the U.S. Embassy in France before Bob was born.  From 1940-1946, while he was working for the U.S. Treasury, they lived in New York and after WWII they came back to Provo and he started his camera shop, Allen's Camera.  Bob was introduced to the business when he was eight and he started to manage the business in 1964.  He retired in 1995, but Lucette still helps out some with the accounting.

They have lived in Salem since 1996.  They were living in Orem and their basement was full of aquariums.  They needed a place to raise his tropical fish, Bob Allen's African Lake Exotics.  They were able to buy their home here, and built a building to house his numerous aquariums.  When he was a child he was interested in biology so his dad made him a book about Tropical Fish with pictures from the National Geographic Magazines.  He also had a book about the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.  When he was ten his dad bought him his own aquarium and then it started.  Early in their married life as he and Lucette had children, they had to move aquaiums out to make room to move the kids in.  In 1982 they were able to visit the Shedd Aquarium in Chicato which was one of Bob's dreams.  Bob's interests are photography, biology, and tropical fish.  He ships a lot of his fish to Los Angeles and Portland.

Lucette's interests are making lace (very fascinating), genealogy, reading and crocheting.  She does a little knitting, but said her grandmother was a very talented knitter.  Through their genealogy research she and Bob have been able to do temple work for several of her French ancestors.  Lucette said their kids never lacked for pets growing up, such as lizards, chinchillas and flying squirrels.

Bob says he has an intense aversion to onions and garlic.  Lucette doesn't care for liver (and onions) and brussels sprouts.  Bob likes asparagus , and Lucette likes anything sweet, as well as breads.  She said people in France do not make their own bread and pastries, they buy them.  She remembers on Sundays her parents sending her to the bakery to buy bread, pastries, and cookies.  They had them maybe once a wekk.  They ate a lot of fruit and cheese.  Bob had a picture of the cheese section in a store of more than 200 different cheeses.

Bob and Lucette enjoy walking every day.  She says Bob picks up garbage as they walk making the city cleaner.  They enjoy the downtown area which hasn't changed much.  They have contributed much to he Library, Salem Days, and Pond Town Christmas funds.

Bob and Lucette, may you continue to enjoy your life in Salem.

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From "Senior Spotlight", Salem City Newsletter, April 2014 -  P 3.