Damon E. Allen

Who was Damon E. Allen?

Damon Earl Allen, Sr., was an optometrist from Campbellsville in central Kentucky, who as a three-term president of the Kentucky Optometric Association led the campaign to procure passage in the Kentucky State Legislature of a bill permitting optometrists to prescribe medication for their patients.

Allen was honored by the Kentucky Optometric Association as the first recipient of its "Lifetime Achievement Award", which thereafter bears Allen's name. Allen maintained his practice in Columbia, the seat of nearby Adair County. He was also active in the American Optometric Association and its Doctors Without Borders auxiliary, a select group of optometrists chosen to demonstrate new techniques to colleagues in China.

Allen was born to John W. Allen and the former Nannie White in rural Fordsville, in Ohio County in western Kentucky. The family thereafter moved to Campbellsville, where Allen graduated in 1939 from Campbellsville High School. He then attended Ohio State University at Columbus. In 1949, he received his doctor of optometry at Illinois College of Optometry in Chicago. Allen served in the United States Army Air Corps, forerunner of the Air Force, as a bombardier during World War II and was a member of the American Legion.