November 29, 1979 — December 16, 2022
Colton Thomas Allen, 43, of Talent, passed away on Dec. 16, 2022.
Born on Nov. 29, 1979, in Ft. St. John, British Columbia, Colton grew up on a communal ranch in the Peace River country of northern Canada. From an early age, he developed a love for ice skating and ice hockey that he would pursue with great success until his mid-twenties.
As a teenager, he learned to operate heavy equipment like road graders and water trucks, and developed carpentry skills working with the communal construction company on Vancouver Island, and later, in Japan, where he helped his father’s framing crew to build houses near Kobe and Osaka. Those trips to Japan made a profound impression on Colton, and were the beginning of a lifelong passion for Japanese design, craftsmanship, and hand tools.
When Colton was 18, the construction company found work in Colorado, and he moved there along with the rest of his family. By this time, Colton had already taught himself how to use AutoCAD and put that knowledge to use in the preparation of technical framing drawings. On the jobsite, his leadership abilities and grasp of the most challenging construction problems were soon apparent.
The family moved to the Rogue Valley in 2001 and started a timber framing shop to provide heavy timber trusses for the ongoing Colorado projects. Colton was hired to run the shop. In 2003, Colton talked his parents into starting their own timber framing business, SwiftSure Timberworks, LLC. He led the new shop from the outset — in charge of shop production and on-site installations — while doing the lion’s share of shop drawings and design work as well. It was during this time that he met Tiffany Dodge, and on May 20, 2006, the two were married in Ashland.
Determined to learn everything he could about timber framing, Colton volunteered weeks of his time whenever possible assisting on projects undertaken by the Timber Framers Guild of North America. The projects included the timber-framed pavilion and associated traditional gates installed by Guild volunteers at the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial in the summer of 2006. Under his inspired leadership and exacting standards, SwiftSure Timberworks grew rapidly, developing a reputation for work of the highest quality and craftsmanship.
In 2008, at the age of 28, Colton was diagnosed with ALS. Within a year the disease had progressed to the point where he could no longer climb steep roofs or cut timber joinery or do any of the other construction tasks he’d enjoyed doing for so long. But even though the outlook for his health was bleak, Colton took great joy in becoming a father later that year when his daughter, Etta, was born.
Faced with this challenge, he turned his focus to photography and began a second career. Just as he had 10 years earlier when he taught himself AutoCAD, he taught himself photography. As with many of his interests, he learned best by reading everything he could find on the subject, and soon thereafter he was spending every minute he could shooting photos.
In the early days, that often meant taking landscape photos of breathtaking beauty in places like the Grand Canyon, Mount Rainier, Smith Rock, and the Oregon Coast on road trips he took with Tiffany, Etta, and his brother, Jason. Or it meant walking around Talent, Ashland, or Medford, and taking photos of whatever caught his eye. Later, he would take those same walks down the streets and back allies of Rogue Valley towns in his power chair, accompanied by friends, family members, or caregivers, determined to keep shooting film for as long as he could.
As dedicated to his photographic art as he had been to the craft of timber framing, Colton steadily built a vast portfolio of images he shared with the world through numerous photography forums, as well as a book (“In Significance,” 2020) and a number of photozines. Thousands of people from all around the world followed and were inspired by Colton’s work. His photos were shown in numerous local and international art exhibitions.
In 2011, Colton and Tiffany formed the group “Team SwiftSure” and joined the annual Walk to Defeat ALS fundraising drive, held in Medford and other communities across the country by the ALS Association. They also traveled to the nation’s capitol in 2015 to meet with members of Congress and advocate for passage of the Steve Gleason Act, which eventually did pass.
Colton was a wonderful husband, father, brother and artist. He is survived by his wife, Tiffany; his daughter, Etta; his brothers Jason and Logan; his sisters Rene and Rael; and his parents Tim and Shona Allen.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the ALS Association Oregon and SW Washington Chapter.
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