Willizelle “Billie” Allen died peacefully at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue early Friday morning, Dec. 2, 2005.

She was 91 years old and had lived life to the fullest. She was born in Fitzgerald, Ga. on June 22, 1914, the only daughter of two college graduates, William Borum and Sophie Mozelle Borum, who combined their names when they christened her.

She lived in Tryon, Ga. during childhood years and later in Atlanta, where her father was a pharmacist and a local “doctor.”

Her father died tragically of typhoid fever in 1928 at the age of 40, when Billie was only 14 years old.

Billie then quit school in order to help her mother and care for her bedridden grandmother for the next five years.

Her mother died tragically, also at age 40, on Dec. 4, 1933, after an unsuccessful operation. Billie was left orphaned and homeless at age 19.

The next year, she married Frederick Allen. In 1940, they had a son, William Allen, and in 1946, a daughter Barbara “Bunny” Allen.

Billie was a first-rate artist who made beautiful flowers from gum paste, which she used to decorate thousands of wedding cakes over the years. She taught cake-making to students for over 30 years.

Billie was also a charter member of a Methodist church in Atlanta and taught Sunday school there for many years.

She lived with her daughter Bunny Allen (Meals) for the last 21 years of her life, first in Atlanta, and since June 1991, with Bunny and her husband, Bob Meals, in Langley.

When Bunny opened the Dove House Bed & Breakfast in 1994, Billie helped her prepare breakfasts until she was no longer able to do it.

Billie is survived by her daughter, Bunny Meals; her son, Bill Allen; and three grandchildren, Jay Edwards of Prague, Czech Republic, Dr. Joanna Meals of Madison, Wis., and Rachel “Kate” Meals of Seattle.

Interment was in the Langley Cemetery. Arrangements were under the direction of Visser Funeral Home.