Promoted to Glory: Major James Allison
Major James Allison was Promoted to Glory on July 13, 2025, from the Spartanburg Medical Center in South Carolina. He was 70.
James William Allison was born on August 11, 1954, in Gaffney, SC to parents Claude and Lola Allison. He faithfully attended Salvation Army activities at the Gaffney Corps but had not given his heart to Christ until just before his high school graduation. Something a comrade at the corps wrote in Jim’s yearbook on a Friday night planted a seed that nagged him all weekend. By the time the Salvation Meeting was conducted that Sunday night, a 17-year-old Jim knelt at the altar and surrendered his life to the Lord.
Jim’s dad passed away when Jim was 15, so in addition to school, he took a job at the local Family Dollar store. The day after his conversion, he began to feel deathly ill at work, finally laying down in the back of the store. The manager found him, asking him what was wrong, and Jim told her he had been saved the night before. The manager, a born-again Christian herself, quickly called the store staff together so that he could share the good news with everyone. He later testified that he immediately felt the sickness leave his body, and he knew what his life calling would be from that moment on.
Cadet James Allison met Cadet Lois Soles at the Evangeline Booth College. The two were married and then ordained as Salvation Army officers in June 1977. They were commissioned as members of the Companions of Christ session of cadets.
Majors Allison gave 43 years as active officers, plus an additional five years in post-retirement service beginning in 2020. Corps appointments included Charleston, SC; Winston-Salem, NC; and Pulaski, Waynesboro, and Charlottesville, VA. Divisional staff posts were to the Florida, Alabama-Louisiana-Mississippi (ALM), North & South Carolina, National Capital-Virginia, and Maryland-West Viginia Divisions. They returned to Winston-Salem as area commanders, followed by the same position at Hampton Roads, VA.
In retirement, they returned as members of the ALM divisional staff and later transferred to Georgia Divisional Headquarters. They also served as pastoral care officers in the Potomac and ALM divisions, active in the latter up until his Promotion to Glory.
Major James Allison is preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his wife, Major Lois Allison; two daughters, Katrina (Stephen) Wilson and Paula (Wayne) Leister; one sister, Kay Frady; and two grandsons, James Wilson and Preston Leister.
A Celebration of Life service is slated for Wednesday, July 23, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. at the Gaffney Corps in South Carolina.