At 4:02 pm on November 11, 2023, our beloved husband and father, Dr. Ferris Paul Allgood, PhD, passed away in Sandy, Utah from natural causes at the age of 92. Ferris was born on a farm in Devol, Oklahoma aka Cookietown, on August 25th 1931. He was one of three surviving children born to William Louie Allgood and Ella (Zweiacker) Allgood.
Ferris spent a lot of time with his sisters, Margaret and Ellena on Cache Creek, hunting wildlife, fishing, swimming and flailing pecans. He shared these childhood experiences in his two books, Christmas 1941 and Lucky,Too. Ferris was proud of his rural heritage, picking cotton and working the family farm. Because of his love of the land he chose a career in agriculture and land management.
Ferris graduated from Union Valley High School in 1950 and then attended Cameron College in Lawton, Oklahoma from1950-1952 graduating with an Associate in Arts in Agriculture. He continued his education at Oklahoma State University where he acquired a Master of Science - Genesis and Morphology of Mounded Soils in 1972. He earned a PhD in 1975-The Utilization of Soil Characteristics in Computing Productivity Ratings of Oklahoma Soils. His achievements in the Department of Agriculture are too numerous to mention, but his publications and achievements placed him in the position as the State Soil Scientist of Utah from 1982-1994. He mapped over 1 million acres of soil and received an award in 2009 for this achievement.
He is survived by his spouse of 66 years, Agnes Allgood, and daughters Tamma (John) Murphy, Jensen Beach, Florida, and Lisa Allgood, Tucson, Arizona, grandchildren, John Murphy and Josephine (James) Pell and two great-grandchildren, Wesley and Farris who was named after her great grandfather.
Despite all of his academic and career achievements, his greatest love was his family. He never lost sight of his rural upbringing. His family farm west of Cookietown is still an Allgood possession. His dream was to instill in his family a love for the land. He was a great storyteller and kept his family amused with tales of refereeing basketball, starting a boxing team, and about some of the colorful characters in Cookietown, OK.
Ferris loved the Oklahoma State Cowboys. He was an avid walker until the last few years of his life and would walk five miles a day wearing his bright orange OSU shirts, jackets and hats. He became so well- known for his OSU attire in the Sandy, UT community, that he developed a fan club of people who would honk and wave to him during his walks. He also loved golfing with his daughters and spent many hours with them on the golf course until well into his eighties. He was the most selfless, generous and loving man. He was greatly loved by his family and will be deeply missed. We take comfort knowing he is reunited with his beloved Chihuahua, Paco, friends, and family members, upon entering the gates of heaven. Rest in peace to our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great- grandfather. Until we meet again, we love you so much.
Ferris was my supervisor from 1992 until his retirement from the Soil Conservation Service. He was always very kind and patient with me as I was learning my new job. I was sad to see him retire. I enjoyed hearing his stories about growing up in Oklahoma. He was a great story teller. I am happy to see that he had a happy, long life after retirement.
Ferris was our State Soil Scientist in Utah when I started working on the soil survey program in 1988. He put me at ease and made me feel welcome as a new employee with his kind ways. I remember lunches with him in the old ZCMI Tiffany room and his fun stories. He made us all feel valued as employees and I appreciated and respected his management of our soil survey group. A good kind man.
