Last August, Rachael Allen threw a 70th birthday party for Allen’s Crosley Lanes, a 42-lane bowling center in Vancouver that her family has owned for nearly four decades. The celebration was bittersweet for her, however, because it took place the day before what would have been her husband Don’s 68th birthday. Don Allen died last May from complications of non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
Don grew up in the bowling industry, learning the trade from his father and grandfather. The Allen family has owned several bowling centers in the Portland metro area since 1948, including Interstate Lanes in Portland which closed in 2016 and was where Rachael first met Don nearly 50 years ago.
“I was bowling juniors at Interstate, and he was working in the front desk,” Allen said. “I went up one day to get change, and he slapped my change on the counter and kept his hand on it until I would look up at him and … he goes, ‘Hi,’ and I said, ‘Hi.’ And we were together from that day on.”…