Allan Carter Jenkins Jr.

Allan Carter Jenkins, Jr.
December 27, 1961 – May 25, 2019
Allan permanently left the grid on May 25, 2019 in Greenville, SC. He was 57. He was packed and ready to go, although those who knew and loved him are filled with sadness at his leaving. Allan’s family was at his bedside in his last days: parents Allan Carter Jenkins, Sr., (Sylvia) and Mary Dean Souza, all of Greenville, and his children Caroline Adrian Jenkins and Michael Allan Carter Jenkins, both of Copenhagen, Denmark, where Allan lived for 27 years.
Allan was born in Columbia, SC and grew up in Greenville, attending Christ Church Episcopal School and Eastside High School. He was a voracious reader from a very young age, with Faulkner, Bradbury and William Least Heat-Moon inspiring an early love of stars, maps and words. Allan owned his first telescope at age 10 and taught the Boy Scout Astronomy merit badge at Camp Old Indian for two summers. He was adored by his grandparents on both sides, who— knowing his love of history and travel—took him along on various trips. From memorable summer days on Selwyn Drive, or having fun in Grandmama and Da’s backyard pool, to the last days of his life, Allan never stopped sparring, traveling, and laughing with his closest childhood friends.
Following his high school graduation in 1980, Allan enlisted in the US Navy, attended language school (Hebrew) at the National Security Agency in Fort Meade, MD, and served most of his time as a cryptologic technician (CTO3) at the Office of Naval Intelligence in Suitland, MD. After leaving the Navy, Allan’s next stop along the road was Winthrop College, where he studied English and Journalism.
In 1986, he followed his heart to Copenhagen, Denmark, and began a life that lasted nearly three decades. While there, Allan was married to Lone Adrian, and they started a family. Allan found professional success, and built close friendships. He sailed Ophelia whenever he could, and traveling the world on work assignments. Professionally, Allan gained experience at McKinsey & Company as a communications specialist, and then he moved on, co-founding a highly successful digital communications agency as the dot.com bubble grew. He was a pioneering blogger and thought leader, sought globally for his insight. His first blog, Desirable Roasted Coffee, captures the essence of Allan: well-read, politically astute, with wry and intellectual turns of phrase.
In an interlude from his communications work in Denmark, Allan helped run a top-rated B&B on the island of Møn (where, among other things, he was an early proponent of having the island declared a part of the International Dark-Sky Initiative). Trained in the kitchen, he preferred to not call himself a chef, but became a perfectly good cook at the B&B. He liked the B&B life, where he and his cats enjoyed the long hours during the summer months. Eddie (who was inseparable from his brother Murphy) belonged to a line of “Wonder Cats,” a title bestowed by Allan—like the Dalai Lama—and held by only one living creature at a time; Basil was believed to be the first, and Kolo, the current and last. Allan taught himself charcuterie, which became a favorite hobby. Neighbors and repeat guests asked for his cured duck breast, homemade bacon and cheese straws. And, he shared with his children Caroline (“Puff”) and Michael (“Bix”) not just a love of good food and how to prepare it, but passed along his heartbeat for well-chosen words. Allan never stopped being nostalgic for a traditional Danish Christmas Eve.
A move back to Greenville in 2013 reconnected him to his roots; Allan held a fluent and opinionated passion for the US South that ranged from guns to grits, and politics to protocol. If you were seeking an unwinnable debate, you might question the perfection of Duke’s Mayonnaise on a tomato sandwich, or the bread pudding at Commander’s Palace in New Orleans. In Greenville, Allan was grateful for the view and fried okra at his dad and Sylvia’s home on Paris Mountain, and for the sun-porch company and dinners in town with his mother Mary. He plugged in as a volunteer with the Emrys Foundation, TedX and numerous and beloved music festivals in the area. He was happiest at the intersections where he found like-minded friends, live music and good food.
Allan’s love of politics was absolute and deep (until the end, when it fell away entirely), in small and large circles. He jousted daily in political debate and discussion online, both losing and gaining friends over his unwavering positions and fearlessness in challenging anyone bluntly on issues of human and civil rights. Allan was elected a delegate to the Greenville County Democratic convention when he was 18. In Europe, he became Chairman of Democrats Abroad of Northern Europe, considered a county by the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and including Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. This role made him chair of the DNC’s largest county. He had a private meeting with Hillary Clinton in Lillehammer, Norway, and met President Clinton twice on visit to Denmark. He also attended both of President Clinton’s inaugurations in Washington, DC.
Allan was a feminist and drew upon a staggering depth of knowledge of history, business and literature. He founded a food discussion group that grew to almost 300 members. He left it over an argument on how to properly serve turkey at Thanksgiving.
Over the past 10 years, Allan worked as a storyteller, writer and editor. He counted himself lucky that his work regularly took him to pen, paper, deep into a dam in the far north of Canada, or to an aerial firefighting base in the desert. Working closely with his client and writing partner Jennifer Wah, he co-wrote two books (and hundreds of other articles), capturing company stories with a fountain pen on a Moleskine page, and turning those into well-told tales. To augment his writing work, and because blue highways always called, Allan began long-distance driving, delivering cars throughout the US. #RoadTripMurrica he dubbed it, finding stories at every roadside diner or point of interest.
Allan was a member and volunteer with the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) for more than 25 years, serving on the European region board, and then as a finance director and international board member during a financial crisis for the association. For his work in helping IABC through a significant turning point, Allan received the association’s top volunteer honor in 2006, the Chairman’s Award. His writing work also won several top awards from the association. The “tribe” Allan found within IABC formed a network of professional contacts and worldwide friendships that were essential to him. He worked at keeping connected to people, and many describe a late-night “ping” leading to sometimes life-changing online chats. He spoke of “walk-on-fire” friends, and he was one.
Allan was admitted to Greenville Memorial Hospital in February, and died there of end-stage liver and kidney failure. As he became sicker, he reflected “these are not my shoes I’m walking in,” and began to prepare for the “Big Road Trip,” as he called it. Friends and family came from far and wide to be with him in his last weeks, offering late nights of Townes van Zandt, Alison Krauss and whatever was on his preferred public radio station, WNCW, as well as the chance to write his own obituary, eat pulled pork, biscuits & gravy and talk and listen on an endless range of topics in his inimitable, pithy way. He shared his journey with transparency and honesty, both in person and with his very engaged community of friends on Facebook, in a way that gave us all a map to follow.
We follow the stories of a person’s life in road signs: the stops and starts; exit lanes and side roads. What that story does not tell is that Allan delighted in cats and hated bananas, that he could rock a pink shirt and a certain song could undo him. He cried, readily. He was drawn to owls, and around him at the end, “the damn things [were] everywhere.” Lapham’s Quarterly, The Atlantic, Garden & Gun or a Pat Conroy novel; hand-harvested truffles, foie gras or a fried egg sandwich at Denny’s – all of these things were just as likely as the other to be within reach. A sure sign he was at peace with leaving was hearing him say “for the first time in my life, I don’t feel like starting a new book.”
A few days before he died, Allan quoted a favorite poem by Stephen Dobyns, who wrote of
“staring into the refrigerator
as if into the place where the answers are kept-
the ones telling why you get up in the morning
and how it is possible to sleep at night,
answers to what comes next and how to like it.”
“I’m okay with what comes next,” said Allan. He was sent off on this last road trip with great love, even knowing those who are heartbroken to say goodbye have no answers to what comes next.
Celebrations of life will be held later. He will be interred at the Carter Cemetery Blackwater, Scott County, Virginia.
In lieu of flowers, please consider supporting Our World Festival, a Greenville community group working with schools and other organizations “motivating people with the rhythms of life.” Allan was a spokesperson and emcee for the festival, and believed in its mission. https://www.facebook.com/ourworldfestival/ .