Allen Robinson Gunn was born on 16 April, 1934, in Cuthbert, GA, the fourth child of John and Gladys Gunn, active Southern Baptists who provided a strong Christian upbringing. The family moved to Montgomery, AL, when Allen was six; he was educated in the local public school system. He was a student leader in high school and in college. Graduating from Vanderbilt University in 1956, he attended the Southern Baptist seminary in Louisville, KY, the following year as he pursued his goal of becoming a missionary. Life-threatening illness put those plans on hold, and the chronic health problems that followed cancelled them. Allen returned to graduate school at Vanderbilt with a wife and a new plan - to prepare himself to teach literature at the college level. After two years there, he moved on to a PhD program at Harvard. Before he finished this program, however, the needs of a growing family necessitated his finding work that paid more than teaching assistantships. He taught first at Howard College, now Sanford University, in Birmingham, AL, and then at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL. In 1973 a position at the University of Rhode Island brought him back to New England for good.
As the program that Allen had come to URI to lead was being phased out in the early 1980's, he volunteered to substitute for an ailing Protestant chaplain at Ladd Center until this man's health improved. the man was never able to return and Allen become the Protestant chaplain at Ladd and then, for the State Division of Developmental Disabilities. His calling found him.
As long as Ladd Center existed, Allen spent most of his working hours there, visiting clients and leading services with his fellow chaplain Fr. Gerard Sabourin. With the development of group homes in Rhode Island, Allen began to travel up and down the state, seeking to link these homes with local churches. He was looking for visitors for the homes of the most seriously disabled and for sponsors/friends for clients whose level of functioning allowed them to become involved in church activities.
He participated actively in both the South County chapter of the ARC, and the RIARC at the executive level. In addition, he was a leader and teacher in the First Baptist Church in Wickford. He was the rising president of American Baptist Churches of Rhode Island at the time of his death.
When the Massachusetts and Rhode Island State Councils of Churches initiated an Ecumenical Disability Ministries Network in 1999, Allen volunteered to coordinate the Rhode Island part of the network, and continued in that role until his illness intervened. He assisted with the drafting of "The Accessible Church" document, which provides the theological and practical encouragement to churches moving toward full inclusion of people with disabilities. His deep commitment to inclusion was always evident, as was his unfailing optimism in the face of obstacles. Hew as an inspiration to others in the network, always holding up the conviction that the churches will rise to their calling, and become fully welcoming of all God's children.
Biographical information provided by Mary Alice Gunn
Councils of Churches information added by Betsy Sowers