Parker County Today April 2018 | Page 55

David S. Irvin’s Positively Parker County The Allen family About Irvin David S. Irvin, The Portrait Photographers, is a nationally recognized photographer. Irvin has photographed six presidents and a variety of celebrities, including Garth Brooks and Nolan Ryan. He has also been recognized by Kodak as one of the top 25 photographers in the United States. Irvin photographs notable families in the Fort Worth area who have ties to area businesses. To see additional photos by David S. Irvin, visit www.dsirvin.com John and Melanie Allen have not been in Parker County long, but are already deeply rooted in the community. Melanie is the general manager of Verizon Communication Connections, which has over 15 locations in Oklahoma and Texas. The Allens chose Parker County, specifically Aledo, to raise their family by looking at a map and deciding to move there. “I knew we were opening a store in Weatherford and we would open one in Mineral Wells as well, and my husband would be working in Fort Worth,” Melanie said. “We saw this place called Aledo and it looked like it will be in the middle and we just picked it. We had no idea what was here. I’m from a small town and I love the small town feel for sure. I also love the people here.” When asked what her husband does for a living, Melanie laughed and said “baseball.” “He is baseball everything. John is the head of baseball at Game On Sports Complex. He also is in charge of select teams, called Arsenal Baseball. He has five baseball jobs, so he does baseball.” “Doing baseball” is an understatement. John Allen has a long career in baseball, starting when he was at Garland High School, eventually ending up playing for All Star teams after college. He now shares his love of baseball with high school kids with his own select teams in the Arsenal program. He also coaches the USA baseball team for 17-and-18-year-olds and plans to go to Italy with the team in July. When both are not working, they are taking care of daughters Maci, 4, and Josie, 1. Melanie is a runner and runs marathons in her spare time. They enjoy spending time on Possum Kingdom Lake, but with John’s jobs, baseball does consume most of their life. However, Melanie is happy that their halfway choice led her and her family to move to Aledo and to be active in the community they now call home. 53