Obituary, Visitation & Funeral Information

Allen Overton Battle, Ph.D., A.B.P.P., A.B.M.P. is now only with us in
spirit as of 10 a.m. April 23, 2020. He attended: Immaculate Conception
Cathedral School as a boy, Siena College where he graduated cum laude
in Chemistry and Philosophy/Psychology; Biology Minor, The Catholic
University of America where he got his M.A. in Clinical Psychology;
Anthropology Minor, and also earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology/
Anthropology; Psychiatry Minor there, and he interned at The University of
Tennessee College of Medicine. He was a professor of psychiatry at The
University of Tennessee for over 60 years and for much of that tenure he
was Chief of the division of Clinical Psychology in the Department of
Psychiatry. He also taught at The University of Memphis and Rhodes
College. He saw many adults, children, and families as a part of his
practice of psychology. He delivered and supervised psychological
services for decades to the Juvenile Court of Memphis-Shelby County. He
also provided assistance to DeNeuville Heights School for Girls for
decades. He lived to try to help people, and to train health care
professionals of all types in how to best serve their patients. He led the
organization of the graduation ceremony at U.T. for decades because he
loved the pageantry of honorably bestowing diplomas recognizing such
hard work completed, and the ensuing solemn duties undertaken to future
patients. He was a noted researcher, author, and a true humanitarian who
was listed in several Who’s Who publications.. The honors that he was
awarded attest to his frequent success in his endeavors. Among many
other honors he was: a member of the Sigma Xi scientific society, invested
in knighthood in the Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem
(Knights of Malta) for services to humanity, given a National Jefferson
Award for outstanding service to America in public health (delivered by
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor) for his co-founding of the Memphis Suicide
Prevention and Crisis Center as well as for his cutting-edge training of the
Memphis Police Crisis Intervention Team. He married Dr. Mary Vroman
Battle, Ed.D. in 1953 after they met while at The Catholic University of
America in Washington D.C. and they join again in death. They leave a
surviving son, Allen III. He relaxed by playing the piano and going to films,
concerts, ballet, and opera performances. He was a cultured gentleman
who did far more than his duty. The world is a far better place to have had
him in it. Memorials, fittingly, ought to be sent to the Memphis Crisis
Center https://memphiscrisiscenter.org as he had a slight allergy to
flowers… and a love of humanity.
A visitation (with his cremains present) will be at Memorial Park
Funeral Home on Poplar from 5 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, September 7th. A funeralmass (in Latin) is planned for St. Theresa The Little Flower Catholic churchon Wednesday, September 8th, 2021, at 10:30 a.m. with burial to follow atCalvary Cemetery. The mass will be available online to view within a fewdays of the mass. Please go to the Memorial Park Cemetery obituary page(for Allen Battle) to get the link for the internet site to view the mass.