Continued from page 21
Don had grown up in Granbury
with a guy named Jerry Durant whose
family owned a Chevrolet dealership.
“My dad called me one day and
told me that he had talked to Jerry’s
dad in Granbury, and he told him
that he wanted me to come down
there and work for him,” Don said. “I
told him that I had lived in Granbury
a long time, and I didn’t want to
go live back there. He told me that
Jerry is about to buy a dealership in
Weatherford; I might want to go talk
to him.”
Sometime later, Don did go and
talk to Jerry Durant about a potential
position, but Jerry’s didn’t really have
anything open at that time and Don
wasn’t really ready to move, not yet.
Months later when the new
new-car dealer was driving on the
freeway in West Fort Worth, he
glanced over and saw his childhood
friend.
“I needed someone in the service
department by then,” Jerry Durant
recalled. “I looked over at the next
car and saw Don Allen, and I flagged
him down.”
Don recalled, “We stopped and
talked. I followed him home and
we talked more.” They made a deal
and Don started working for his
childhood friend in May of 1973.
“I became a service writer, and
that was my beginning here,” Don
Allen said. “I love what I do, I love
this business.”
Even while battling cancer, Don
loves his job and forges ahead, rarely
missing a day at the dealership,
facing cancer like he’s always faced
everything else in life — head-on.
Mac Smith is one of Don Allen’s
oldest friends. The two became
friends when Mac was the Parker
County District Attorney and Don
was a witness for the prosecution
in a murder trial, and now the
two of them serve together on
the Weatherford College Board of
Trustees.
“Don is probably one of the
bravest, strongest guys I’ve ever
seen,” Mac said. “He’s always ready
to do his part. He hasn’t let his health
issues become an impediment, and
he will not complain. He carries on
and enjoys life and living. You learn
a lot about a man when he’s going
through something like this. He’s a
good example, a credible person, a
good guy.”
Don waves away all suggestions
that there is anything extraordinary
about the way he battles cancer
while managing a demanding career.
“Work occupies my time and
gives me a reason to get up every
morning,” Don said. “I’m still able to
perform my job, which I am grateful
for. And I got better … the tumors are
not growing but they’re not shrinking
either. We’re going to do another
scan in two or three weeks and we’ll
see.”
If there were an upside to cancer
it would be that it’s apparent to Don
how deeply people in Parker County
care about him.
“I’m on something like 960 prayer
groups — that is really pretty nice.”
Don said. “I am so overwhelmed
by the number of people that are
genuinely concerned about my
health.”
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