Robert F. Allen taught 6th grade for a year or two, one of them being the year some of us were in 6th grade in Sea Cliff.  He was a tough, ex military, curly haired, innovative teacher. (See notes on the class disk.)  Recently I found his son who is also a psychologist, as Mr. Allen became shortly after leaving Sea Cliff. 

[excerpts from a letter from former 6^th grade teacher Robert Allen]

June 19, 1956

[after thanking me for some notes about him as our 6^th grade teacher]  I remember those days very vividly And I gained immeasurably from them.  I am afraid I wasn't the best teacher in the world at that time (and I'm still not).  But I sure did have a grand group of boys and girls to work with.  I frequently feel that I learned a great deal more from my teaching than I ever managed to teach.  I guess that it was sort of like your archaeological experiences with people being the really important things.

Do you remember the poetry we used to write?. . . . and how we tried to do that play The Friendly World and it didn't quite come off.  I was proud of the good work we did on that.  And I still am.  The student council was a lot of fun too.  Can you remember those elections and those campaigns that we had on the playground during the noon hour?  They were hectic, weren't they?

. . . . . .

I was sorry to hear about Rich Loftus however.  Have you been able to give him a hand at all?  Sometimes a good friend is more than 1000 policemen to help keep the guy out of trouble.  Please tell him that I was asking for him and would like to hear from him if he ever could find the time to write.

Also, I wish that you would tell Mr. Palmer, that I was asking for him.  He was (and still is I'll bet) one of the nicest guys that I ever had the opportunity to meet.  He helped me a whole lot while I was in Sea Cliff although I guess I probably never took the opportunity to let him know about it.

As for my activities since I left Sea Cliff, I guess that they are summed up pretty well in "Who's Who in American education."  Did you notice that I was married?  This is the biggest news since last I saw you and Elaine (my wife, who is also a sixth-grade teacher) and I are very, very happy together. . . .  We live in Long Beach, directly across the street from the ocean, and it is great fun.

My work is very interesting.  I am the director of psychological services for the Oceanside Public Schools.  It manages to keep me pretty busy, but I like it a great deal.