Douglas J. Allman

Douglas J. Allman of Maumee, OH passed away on June 29th, 2024 at home surrounded by his loving family. He was born on July 1st, 1953 in Tiffin, OH to Albert, Jr. and Myra “Jane” (Fleck) Allman. Doug grew up in Tiffin and graduated from Calvert High School.

Doug was preceded in death by his father, Albert Jr. and his niece, Katherine “Katie” Briggs. He is survived by his wife of 37 years, Linda; his mother, Jane; his children, Andrew, Alexandra, and Matthew; his daughter-in-law, Lexi; his granddaughter, Lila; his siblings, Barbara Bishop, Laura San Martin, Jeffrey Allman, and Sarah MacLachlan and their respective spouses, Greg, Charlie, Jan, and John.

Any attempt to sum Doug up in a couple paragraphs will certainly fall short. Doug was creative and resourceful; there were few things he couldn’t fix or problems he couldn’t solve. He was warm, outgoing, and sometimes a little brash; often greeting cashiers he’d never met with a vigorous “how the hell are you?!” He was sharp and organized; to his last day he could’ve told you where any one tool was in his garage.

He was curious and adventurous; constantly learning as much as he could and never let the fact that he hadn’t done something before stop him from trying. He was generous with both his time and resources; always willing to teach where he could and consistently going out of his way to help when he could make someone else’s life even a little easier.

And finally, probably more so than anything else, he was himself…and he never took himself too seriously. It didn’t matter what situation he was in or what had gone wrong in his life at the moment (or whether it was appropriate), he was going to find the humor in it. It was his most consistent quality and maybe his best one, because he was great at it.

It didn’t matter whether you were laughing because he said something cutting and clever, or whether he said something so corny that you were laughing at how not funny it was…either way, he was going to make you laugh. Anyone who knew Doug can think of at least one time where he made them laugh, and he always took great pride in that trait. Doug will be dearly missed by many, so let us all honor him by forever carrying with us those moments of shared laughter.

Doug lived a big and full life during his 70 years. He raced cars in (questionably legal) drag races, started a concert venue in his hometown (more on that below), traveled all across the country driving semi-trucks, ran his own handy-man company for many years, and helped build Jeep Wranglers (he'd proudly correct you if you ever said he was just building Jeeps). He got to spend more than half his life with his wife that he loved and together they raised 3 wonderful children. Doug was a big animal lover, spending all his life surrounded by his many pets that included hamsters, dogs, lots of cats, and even a wolf.

He would spend hours in the garage reading his books or the newspaper just trying to soak up whatever knowledge he could. For someone who couldn’t figure out how to Google something if his life had depended on it, he sure knew a great deal. There were few, if any, things he wanted to do in his life that he didn’t get the chance to do (and he did pretty much all of it with a cigarette in his mouth). He made each day count.

In 1978, Doug and his brother Jeff, inspired by the success of Woodstock, took some vacant farm land in Tiffin owned by their father and turned it into their own concert venue, dubbed St. John’s Hollow. What began with hosting a bluegrass show with around 250 people in attendance improbably ballooned into hosting the event of the summer with headliners Journey and Pablo Cruz playing to a crowd 18,000 people strong later that same year.

The venue would later go on to also host prominent artists such as the Beach Boys, ZZ Top, and the Oakridge Boys, just to name a few, and stories about St. John’s Hollow can still be heard echoing throughout the Midwest from concertgoers lucky enough to attend some of these shows. The legacy left by St. John’s Hollow embodies Doug’s carefree, fun-loving, and ambitious spirit more than just about anything else and it might just be the thing he was most proud of in his life (his children might have barely edged it out on the list).

Doug’s family welcomes guests to attend his celebration of his life on Saturday, July 20th from 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. at the Newcomer SW Chapel, located at 4752 Heatherdowns Blvd. (419-381-1900). Funeral Services will begin Saturday at 3:00 p.m. at the funeral home.

Memorial contributions may be made in Doug's memory to the Toledo Humane Society.

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