Allen, Maryon Pittman, 1925-2018

Maryon Pittman Allen (November 30, 1925 – July 23, 2018) was an American journalist who served as United States Senator from Alabama for five months in 1978, after her husband, Senator James B. Allen, died in office. She held no public office prior to her appointed to her husband's old senate seat.

Born in Meridian, Mississippi as Maryon Pittman, her family moved to Birmingham, Alabama the following year, where she grew up and attended public school. From 1944 to 1947, she studied journalism at the University of Alabama but did not graduate. While a student, she married and had three children. Following her divorce, she went to work, first as an insurance agent and later as the editor of the women's sections for five weekly newspapers in the Birmingham area. That experience led to a position as a staff writer for the Birmingham News. It was in that capacity that she met James B. Allen, then lieutenant governor of Alabama. Attracted to one another, they married in August 1964.

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