Allan Ray Cahoon: Partner. Father. Mentor. Academic. Born November, 1945, in Cardston, Alta.; died April 5, 2024, in Victoria, of gastric cancer; aged 78.
Allan CahoonCourtesy of family
Allan was born in the town his Mormon ancestors settled. He was the youngest of six children. As a young boy, he loved hiking in Waterton National Park, where his family spent summers. This is also where he developed his extraordinary work ethic. He sold pop to tourists, then collected and returned the empties for a refund. He also worked at his parents’ general store, at the Waterton Prince of Wales Hotel and on a tour boat that cruised the lake.
Allan had an unmistakable softness and manner in childhood that was perceptible, even in photos. Like so many queer children, he could sense his “otherness” and the disappointment of his father. He grew particularly close to his mom.
Allan excelled academically. After graduating high school, he served a Mormon mission in Chile, proselytizing and helping co-ordinate other missionaries. He learned to speak, read and write Spanish here. He would, in time, return to South and Central America again and again, including as a visiting professor, lecturing in his second language.
Before his 30th birthday, Allan obtained degrees in history and political science, an MSc in International Administration from Brigham Young University in Utah and a PhD in Organizational Theory and Development from Syracuse University in New York.
Allan was an out gay academic who made it less arduous for the next generation of queer scholars to thrive in their fields. He began his career at the University of Calgary and was at the forefront of the move toward cross-cultural collaboration in Canadian universities.
Allan met his first spouse, Kathy, upon returning from his mission. In 1969, they married in Salt Lake City. They had two daughters. Allan’s academic work took the young family to Saskatoon, Syracuse, N.Y., Calgary and Vancouver.
While he loved Kathy dearly, the gay liberation movement in the 1970s prompted a period of deep introspection and self-reflection, culminating in Allan coming out. While his marriage to Kathy ended, the two remained friends and co-parents until Kathy died in 1985. Allan continued to raise his daughters, negotiating the complex intersections of faith, sexuality and grief with dedication, compassion and humour.
Allan often relied on his credentials as a veil. He enjoyed the authority that his doctor of philosophy afforded him. “Trust me, I’m a doctor!” he’d say half seriously. You could sense his critical self-reflexivity in teasing moments like this.
Allan’s Mormon upbringing instilled lifelong traits. He loved holidays and wore bunny ears to deliver Easter chocolate. He gave odd gifts: Every Christmas Eve, his family received mismatched pyjamas. He had no shortage of “excellent” (read: unsolicited) ideas and advice and liked to organize unique activities. He hired a Queen Elizabeth impersonator to hang out with his six grandchildren. On another occasion, he took them on a tour of a sturgeon research facility.
In the 1980s and ‘90s, Allan ran a travel agency catering to the LGBTQ community and then a gay country and western nightclub called Trax, which had a mirrored cowboy boot above the dance floor.
Allan met Jamie Cooper in 1997. Jamie was 30 years his junior. They were from two different worlds but were good for one another. Allan’s encouragement and support were instrumental in helping Jamie continue his education. Over their loving 27-year relationship, they helped rewrite each other’s life story.
Allan loved Pablo Neruda’s poems and read across genres: The last two books on his nightstand were The Credential Society: An Historical Sociology of Education and Stratification by Randall Collins and RuPaul’s The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir.
In 2021, Allan received a terminal cancer diagnosis. He continued working, travelling, and fishing with his brothers. He attended his daughter’s wedding and met his great-grandchild. He continued living until the very end.
Jamie Cooper is Allan Cahoon’s partner.
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