Former El Dorado County Deputy William “Bill” Allen Dies at 79
William Raymond “Bill” Allen, a former deputy with the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office who spent decades serving communities from Lake Tahoe to Placerville, died March 4, 2026, in Deming, New Mexico. He was 79.
Allen, a Navy veteran and longtime public servant, spent 27 years in law enforcement protecting communities across El Dorado County before embarking on a second career in railroading across the western United States. His family said he “marched into Heaven with Jesus” after a life defined by service, faith and dedication to his family.
Born in Santa Paula, California, in 1946, Allen spent part of his childhood on his grandmother’s citrus ranch in nearby Fillmore in Ventura County. His early years also included extensive travel because his father served as a Navy pilot working with the Naval Missile Test Center at Point Mugu. The family lived in several locations tied to the Navy’s operations, including the Marshall Islands, Hawaii, Tennessee and New Mexico.
After graduating from Valley High School in Albuquerque, Allen followed in his father’s footsteps and enlisted in the U.S. Navy. His father administered the oath as Allen entered military service. Allen served aboard the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, working on the flight deck until his honorable discharge in 1968.
Following his military service, Allen returned to Ventura County and began working as a reserve deputy with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office. During that time, he met his future wife, Sally, beginning a partnership that would span more than five decades.
Allen later joined the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office as a deputy assigned to the Lake Tahoe Division. The couple married in 1972 on Fannette Island in Emerald Bay at Lake Tahoe.
“My wife Sally always said it was the best wedding we ever attended,” Allen once joked about the unique ceremony.
The couple spent seven years living in the Lake Tahoe Basin, where Allen served as a resident deputy on the West Shore and later worked out of South Lake Tahoe. In 1979, he transferred to Placerville and the family settled on acreage in the small community of Kelsey along the South Fork of the American River.
There they built a home and raised their son, Logan. Family life revolved around church at Kelsey Bible Church, tending a large garden and caring for chickens and a horse named Arrow.
After nearly three decades in law enforcement, Allen retired from the sheriff’s office and began a second career working for several short-line railroads across the West. His railroading career included work with the Puget Sound & Pacific Railroad, the California Northern Railroad and the Arizona and California Railroad.
In 2004, Allen and his wife relocated to Deming, New Mexico, where he continued rail work with the Southwest Railroad before retiring again in 2013.
Allen remained active in community and church life. He was a member of First Christian Church, Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, the Friends of Rockhound State Park and the American Legion Bataan Post No. 4.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Helen and Edgar Leslie Allen, and his sister Karen Leon.
Allen is survived by his wife of 53 years, Sally Kaser Allen; their son Logan Hayes Allen and his wife Alissa; sisters Marilyn Barnard of Florence, Oregon; Margaret “Peg” Osborne and her husband Tom of Bend, Oregon; Barbara Cobarrubias; and half-sister Andrea Speers and family of Ventura and Fillmore, California, along with numerous nieces and nephews.
A celebration of Allen’s life is scheduled for March 21, 2026, at 2 p.m. at Baca’s Funeral Chapel in Deming, New Mexico.
