Louise Allen wanted to be an invisible but irresistible force in creating the fabric of Atlanta's civic and charity organizations.

She was, going public only when it would benefit one of the many causes she championed.

JONATHAN NEWTON/AJC (ENLARGE)

Louise Allen poses in the quarry garden at the Atlanta Historical Society, one of her many interests.

Joey Ivansco/AJC (ENLARGE)

Former Atlanta mayor Ivan Allen and his wife Louise in the library of their Atlanta home on July 14, 1988.

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Mrs. Allen, wife of the late Atlanta mayor Ivan Allen Jr., was a founder of the Atlanta Speech School and the Forward Arts Foundation. Her foresight transformed the Atlanta Historical Society from a small group of Civil War buffs to guardians of every aspect of the city's history. She left her mark on the Atlanta Botanical Garden and the former Henrietta Egleston Hospital for Children.

She was renowned for her ability to persuade people to volunteer for civic projects and for her intuitive sense to match a volunteer with a cause.

"She could get people involved in a very subtle way," said her daughter-in-law Tricia Allen of Atlanta. "She was a master at that. She would do that to me, and I wasn't even aware of it."

Family, friends, corporate newcomers all were drawn into her volunteer network.

"The minute somebody new moved to town, she was almost the first person at their door," her daughter-in-law said. "She would take them something like a basket of figs from her yard. She would be there before anybody else knew they had moved to town."

Her son Inman Allen of Atlanta said, "She was just a very effective networker. She was a walking office."

Louise Richardson Allen, 91, died at her Atlanta residence Saturday. The memorial service is at 11 a.m. Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta. H.M. Patterson & Son, Spring Hill, is in charge of arrangements.

When one of her causes was in need, Mrs. Allen founded society charity ball to benefit it or recruited just the right civic leader to raise money.

"First and foremost, she always had the wider community's interest in mind. She would not ask for anything outrageous. It was always something that was clearly needed," said Henry Howell of Atlanta, a member of the Atlanta History Center.

"Louise Allen was a wonderfully focused person and a tremendously intelligent person," he said. "She could size things up and see the big picture when a lot of other people didn't. She always had the big picture in mind."

Mrs. Allen was Atlanta's first lady from 1962 to 1970. She provided her husband advice and counsel and was at his side at historic moments, though she preferred being in the background, her son said.

Her charity work was a full-time job. A passing comment in conversation would set her mind clicking. A couple of phone calls later she would have put in contact, for example, the designer who needed an anchor for a new park and the architect who could bring the 1900 Carnegie Library facade out of storage to be reconstructed in the park.

Even philanthropist Robert Woodruff could not resist her genteel and persuasive manner. "Mr. Woodruff would give her almost anything she wanted," her daughter-in-law said. "Everybody knew if you wanted money from Mr. Woodruff, get Louise to go see him."

It was Mrs. Allen who proposed that the Atlanta Historical Society buy her uncle's house, the historic Swan House, as its headquarters. Despite opposition, the deal was sealed. Today the property is home to multiple Atlanta History Center facilities, and the Center is one of the best endowed cultural institutions in the city, Mr. Howell said.

"She believed it was vitally important for the ongoing success of the city that it remember its past," said another son, Beaumont Allen of Atlanta. "She wanted the historical society to put the lives of the people of Atlanta into a perspective and a context."

Mrs. Allen, who was presented at the Court of St. James in 1935, is descended from families whose names appear throughout Atlanta on buildings, neighborhoods and streets. Inman Park is named for her great-uncle Samuel Inman. Her grandfather Hugh Inman was said to be the state's biggest taxpayer in 1908. Her aunt Annie Grant's home became Cherokee Town Club.

The historic Allen family enclave, Broadlands, is enhanced by her landscaping. Gardening experts trek to her yard to view the many exotic trees she has planted and nurtured to maturity when many thought they would never survive in this climate.

Mrs. Allen had an impressive lineage and a privileged life but was happy with her hands on plants, in the dirt and on a watering hose, said her son Beaumont Allen of Atlanta.

Survivors include seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.