John Prentice Allen was born November 26, 1918, in Seattle, Washington to Rudolph and Anna Farrar Allen. He attended schools in Seattle and Aberdeen, Washington and graduated from Roosevelt High School in Seattle in 1936. He attended Whitman College, the University of Hawaii at Honolulu, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the University of Kentucky at Lexington. He was a clerical worker at Whitman College from 1946 to 1950. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington, and in 1952 received a master’s degree in librarianship from the University of Washington. John also served during World War II in the U.S. Navy as a Japanese language officer. He was a librarian at Central Washington University in Ellensburg between 1952 and 1965, when he moved to Washington State University. He retired in 1981. He was a co-owner of the Hilltop Restaurant and Motel at Pullman. He died June 25, 1991.