Mr. George Anderson
January 29, 1920 - 2003
In 1997, George Anderson Elementary opened in honor of George Anderson. Tammie James, principal of Anderson Elementary from its opening date through 2004, said "Mr. Anderson could always be counted on to appear the first day of school to shake the hand of every student."
George Anderson was born in Plano, Texas on January 29, 1920. Mr. Anderson first came to Allen to attend church at St. Mary's Baptist as a teenager. He continued to ride the interurban to Allen every Sunday because he'd become smitten with a girl he saw playing piano at the service, Hazel Williams, a lifelong Allen resident who later became his wife.
In 1940, he enrolled in Wiley College in Marshall Tx, before serving in the Army from 1942-1946. Mr. Anderson was nearly killed at the end of his military service in Egypt. He had presents for his mother and his fiance in his bag, and he was told he'd have to discard the presents to get on the flight. He decided to keep the presents and wait for the next flight. That first plane went down over the Mediteranean. Allen's history certainly would have been altered, if Mr. Anderson had decided to get on that plane.
