The Lost Book

Marjorie Wells Allen was born November 18, 1925, in the Allen House at Snow Camp, NC, which was built in 1780 by her pioneer Quaker ancestors. Marjorie graduated as valedictorian from Sylvan High School and earned a B.S. in Home Economics from the University of Tennessee and a master’s degree from Florida State University. She became a foods researcher with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and an educator. At the University of Tennessee, she roomed with her sister Olive Mae, who is featured in the story. Olive Mae became a bacteriologist. Marjorie married Richard Parvin, an Air Force pilot and engineer from Bradenton, Florida, in 1946 at the Friends Meeting of Washington, DC. They had three children, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren as of 2024. Their children and 23 Allen cousins enjoyed visiting the family farm and playing in the Allen House before it was donated to the Alamance Battleground Revolutionary War historic site in Burlington, NC, in the 1960s. Well into her 90s, living in Clearwater, Florida, Marjorie delighted friends and family with stories about her childhood on the farm, the Cane Creek Quaker community in Snow Camp, and the adventures of her nine brothers and sisters. Jean Parvin Bordewich, Marjorie’s daughter, wrote this children’s book to preserve the legacy of her mother’s family and to share this history with young people. Jean is a writer and playwright in Washington, DC.