Friou Allen was born January 19, 1953, to Charles J Allen and Pat Friou Allen in Brownwood. He passed away at home May 4, 2026, surrounded by loved ones after a long and courageous battle with diabetes, kidney disease, and heart disease.
Growing up in Brownwood, Friou attended Mrs. Lamb’s Kindergarten and was a 1972 Brownwood High School graduate.
Friou met Karen Wheeler in April 1975 by way of Karen’s friend, Jill Ward Pullen. They were married on August 1, 1975, in Brownwood. He lovingly referred to Karen as his “angel wife”. They were blessed with one daughter, Shannon (Jared) Underwood of Early. Friou is survived by his sister Holly (Craig) Tabor of Nixa, MO, Shannon and Jared, sister-in-law Rhonda Malicoat, and many beloved nieces, nephews, cousins and longtime friends. He was preceded in death by his parents, Charlie and Pat Allen; father-in-law and mother-in-law, Frenchie and Wanda Wheeler; and his grandparents.
In his earlier years, Friou was a member of the Bass Club and enjoyed fishing every chance he got. Many of the first dates for Friou and Karen involved fishing. On their first date, Friou gifted Karen with a fishing rod & reel and took her to the family ranch to teach her how to use it. For their second date, he brought a life jacket so they could fish at the lake. Needless to say, after marriage, most weekends revolved around fishing, camping and hunting.
Friou began working for Shaw TV during high school and stayed for over 13 years, then briefly worked at Texas Communications. He opened and operated StarTech Satellite Services in 1985. When he closed StarTech, Friou and Karen began a new adventure, moving to Colorado Springs, CO in 1994 where he worked a variety of jobs before settling into a courier position for 2-3 companies as an independent contractor.
Friou and Karen returned to Brownwood in 2006, where he worked briefly at Kirbo Office Machines. They lived for a few years in Cross Plains and made many longtime friends and church family there.
A job opportunity for Karen created a move to Springfield, MO in July 2013, near Holly and her family, again making many new friends and church family. They finally returned to Brownwood in 2023 for Karen’s retirement near Shannon, Rhonda, other family members, and longtime friends.
Friou never met a stranger. In fact, he was the first to say he was “vaccinated with a phonograph needle”. He and his cousin, Sam, could talk for hours about hunting, fishing, religion, politics, family stories or nothing at all.
Friou, along with classmate Jay Longley, began a lifelong friendship and love of metal detecting in their junior high school years. Friou was so hooked by the metal detecting bug that he began selling metal detectors while still in high school, first as Allen Detector Sales and later as World Wide Treasures. In 1981, with humble beginnings and only 1 person attending the first meeting, they founded the Central Texas Treasure Club. The club has now grown to approximately 75 members and continues to this day. Friou enjoyed metal detecting as his health allowed and also was very skilled at repairing many of the older metal detectors.
If you knew and loved him, you knew that Friou could be quite eccentric. With a background in TV and electronics, he loved all types of modern technology. He loved Star Trek, Star Wars, anything sci-fi, old movies, stereo equipment, the latest phones, TV’s, projectors – if it was electronic, he was a fan. Growing up, Holly didn’t have a choice but to watch Star Trek with her big brother.
Friou also had a fondness for unusual shoes and glasses as well as riding his electric wheelchair at full speed ahead! He would get something on his mind to search for online, hours on end, and many times, would order multiples of the same type of item. About a month before his death, he searched for new sunshades, reading glasses and frames to use for prescription lenses. He ordered 10 different pairs of glasses, many arriving just days before his passing. Friou was still interested in using them and had us take pictures of him wearing the various glasses while in his hospital bed so he could see them on his face.
Wherever they lived, worshipping God was of utmost importance to Friou and Karen. While in Colorado Springs, they were members of Eastside Church of Christ. In Missouri, they were members of Union Hill Church of Christ in Nixa. In Texas, they began as members of Vine Street Church of Christ. They previously were members of Ave W Church of Christ, Brownwood, Austin Avenue Church of Christ, Brownwood, Cross Plains Church of Christ and finally back to Vine Street Church of Christ, where they were both baptized in their younger years. Friou’s wishes were for any family or friends who do not know Jesus, that they would become followers of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
Visitation for Friou will be held at Heartland Funeral Services Thursday, May 7th from 6-8 pm, with funeral services at Heartland at 10:00 am on Friday, May 8th. Burial will follow at Pleasant Valley Funeral Home in May, Texas.
The family would like to thank Kinder Hearts Hospice and Brownwood Nursing and Rehab for their tender and special care for Friou.
Online condolences, memories and tributes can be made to the family at www.heartlandfuneralhome.net