Thomas J. Allen (1897-1985) received the Pugsley Silver Medal in 1947. His pioneering career in the National Park Service spanned almost a half-century beginning at Mount Ranier National Park in 1917 and concluding with his retirement in 1965. Allen was born in Pittsburg, but was raised and educated in Seattle. His studies at the University of Washington discontinued by service in the Army Medical Corps in World War I. Before the war he studied engineering for a year and after it he had three years of forestry. In 1922, after two summers as a park ranger at Mount Ranier National Park, he became chief ranger and assistant superintendent at Rocky Mountain National Park.
He quickly established himself as a hard worker and willing to do whatever needed to be done and was soon promoted to chief ranger. He was superintendent for five national parks, director of three park service regions and assistant director of the NPS in Washington, D.C. He served as a superintendent at: Hawaii Volacanoes National Park (1928-31), Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks (1931-32) and Hot Springs National Park (1932-36), before returning to Rocky Mountain National Park in 1936 when Edmund Rogers departed for Yellowstone to succeed the late Roger Toll. From 1937 to 1944 he was Regional Director of Region Two with headquarters in Omaha. Subsequently he held the similar position at Region I from 1944 until 1951. He served as a captain with Army Air Corps in 1943 and 1944. Allen was the NPS Assistant Director of Operations from 1951-59 and finished his career as a field assistant in Sant Fe, New Mexico.