Retired Couple: 'We've Had A Good Life'

Jack and Billie Allman of Noel have been married 63 years and have done some hard work in their time. Now they are retired and they love their life.

Both Jack and Billie were born and raised in Pineville. Early in their marriage, Jack was working for Humphrey and Son Funeral Home based in Pineville, which had two other locations -- Noel and Anderson. He ended up working in Noel so often the couple moved to Noel in 1954. He worked for the funeral home for 10 years. Billie had been working at the telephone company since she was 15 and worked there for several years. Later she worked for the school system.

One day Jack went to the barber shop to get a haircut and the owner, J.E. Madison, asked if he had ever thought about becoming a barber. Jack took his advice and went to barber college at Kansas City and then went to work for Madison.

"When I walked in the door, he gave me the first chair," he said. Jack bought the barber shop in 1968 and was a barber for a total of 33 years.

In 1969, the Allmans were affected by the train explosion in Noel. They lived on King's Highway, and their house was damaged by the blast. The government brought in mobile homes, and they lived in one until their home was repaired, they said.

Another big part of the Allmans' life was Kozy Kamp in Pineville. Billie's parents, Bill and Pansy Bonebrake, started the camp -- the first in Pineville -- in 1962, she said. They died a few years later, leaving the camp to the Allmans and Billie's two brothers, Tom and Jerry Bonebrake. They ran the camp for about 20 years.

"It was work," Billie said. "We had our jobs and then we did that on the weekends, so it was seven days a week hard work. We met a lot of nice people and we met a lot of not so nice."

She said a lot of people from the Kansas City area came every year.

"Her dad started with five canoes on consignment," Jack noted. At the end of the Allmans' 20 years, they had 200, he said.

"When we started, we hauled the people (to the river) in the back of pickups. Then we graduated to vans and little school buses."

Jack added, "When we worked the campground, as soon as we were through for the summer, we made a point to go away somewhere for a few days. That kept us going."

The Allmans' oldest son, Mark, and John Taylor bought the camp in 1995.

Jack retired when he was 62, and Billie retired before that. Jack is now 83, and the couple is enjoying retirement.

"We've been pretty well blessed," Jack said. "We don't have a plan for the day. We just get up and do whatever comes up."

One thing they have especially enjoyed is helping with a food ministry at their church, Noel United Methodist, for the past five or six years.

"That's been something we really enjoyed doing, and it's helped so many people here in town," Jack said.

The couple has two sons, Mark and Kirk, one granddaughter, two grandsons and three great-grandsons.

"We've had a good life," Jack said. "We've been partners. We do things together. We don't do them separate. To other people it might not be exciting, but we've had a good run."