ALLENE LUMMIS RUSSELL, educator, philanthropist and friend, died on the 22nd of March 2010, at her home in Westwood after a long illness. She was 85 years old. Mrs. Russell was born in Houston on the 9th of August 1924. She attended Houston public schools for primary education and then graduated from Chatham Hall School in Chatham, Virginia in 1942. Thereafter she followed her mother and grandmother in coming north to Wellesley College, creating an unusual lineage of loyal graduates (especially as two additional generations of the family have since followed). Mrs. Russell's family background was notable as it included some of the most prominent Houston families that were instrumental in founding and developing that rapidly growing city. One example was her great uncle William Marsh Rice, founder of Rice University. The name of Allene came from her mother's sister, Allene, mother of Howard R. Hughes, the industrialist and aviation pioneer. After graduating from Wellesley in 1946 with a major in mathematics, she returned to Houston and became actively involved in community affairs including service as an officer of the Junior League, an important civic activity there. She taught primary school students at St. John's School and ran a children's theatre project. In the midst of an active social life, she met a young surgeon, Dr. Paul S. Russell, who had been assigned to Ellington Air Force base during the Korean War. She and Dr. Russell were married in 1952, and they subsequently moved to Boston where he was to complete his training as a surgeon. The first of their four children was born in London during a year while Paul conducted intensive research at University College London. On returning to Boston, two more children were born while the family lived in Cambridge and Weston. After a brief two-year stint in New Jersey while Dr. Russell was on the faculty of Columbia University's medical school and a fourth child was born, the family moved back to Boston in 1962 when Dr. Russell became Chief of Surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. The Russells then began a long-term residence in Chestnut Hill, where Mrs. Russell not only raised her four children but soon also became engaged in the activities of the Church of the Redeemer as well as a particularly active involvement in tutoring children primarily at Rivers School. Her interest in education also extended to membership for many years on the Board of Trustees of Wellesley College where she was a leader in maintaining and improving the lovely campus grounds. She also established and endowed a neurobiology program, including a professorial Chair. Convinced of the great importance of the programs of Lesley University to create new teachers she was a long-time trustee of Lesley where she supported the establishment of both a new teaching science laboratory and the Russell Fellowship program for faculty development. Both Lesley and Wellesley flourished during her tenure for many reasons, and she enjoyed participating in these developments and working closely with the able leadership of these institutions. She also was a founding member of the Board of Trustees of the Roxbury Preparatory Charter School. Mrs. Russell was a person whose calm and stable sense of proportion generated confidence in all who worked with her. Her great warmth of personality attracted many loyal friends and an adoring family. She continued her valuable and active life until early signs of Alzheimer's disease prompted the couple's move to Fox Hill Village in Westwood where she died five years later. Mrs. Russell leaves her husband, Paul, four children, Katherine McCurdy of Larchmont, New York; Paul S. Russell III of Chevy Chase, Maryland; Allene Pierson of Baltimore, Maryland; and Laura Malkin of London, England and Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts; as well as twelve grandchildren. She is also survived by her brother, William Rice Lummis; sister-in-law, Marilyn Graves Lummis; niece, Patty Neff McCormack of Richmond, Virginia; nephews, Frederick Rice Lummis II, Ransom Clark Lummis, David Rice Lummis, Richard Gano Lummis, Ghent Graves Lummis, all of Houston, Palmer Bradley Lummis of Ft. Worth, William Rice Lummis, Jr. of Ingram, Texas, and Marvin Lee Lummis of Denver; and cousins, Mrs. John Lindsey, Mrs. Robert S. Chew, Jr., Platt Walker Davis, all of Houston, and Richard Houstoun Davis of Amarillo. She was preceded in death by her sister, the late Anne Lummis Neff, and by her brother, the late Frederick Rice Lummis, Jr. Friends are cordially invited to gather with the family for a graveside service and inurnment to be conducted at eleven o'clock in the morning on Friday, the 2nd of April, at Glenwood Cemetery, 2525 Washington Avenue in Houston, where the Rev. Dr. Paul S. Russell III is to officiate. Immediately following the inurnment, the family will greet friends during a reception to be held at another venue announced during the service.
