Dr. John William Collins, 93,
of Newburgh, passed away in the Village at Hamilton Pointe, Newburgh, on April 14, 2013.
He was born on Oct. 23, 1919, in Princeton, the third of five children of Oscar L. Collins and
Fannie M. Davis Collins. He was the last surviving child of that family.
He was also preceded in death
in 2001 by his high-school sweetheart and wife of 60 years, Imogene Collins.
He is survived by his second
wife, Olive (Grosboll) Collins (formerly of
Springfield, Ill.), of Newburgh, as well as a daughter, Linda Collins Dunham,
of Austin, Texas, and a son, Richard Collins, of Newburgh. He is also survived
by six grandchildren: Richard Dunham (Austin), Andrew Dunham (Austin), John W. Collins (Jasper), Sallie Moseley (Newburgh), Emily Collins (Newburgh) and Tyler Collins (Newburgh), and four great-grandchildren.
Dr. Collins graduated from Princeton High
School in
1938, where he served as Captain of the Tiger’s basketball and football teams,
and also played baseball. He continued his education and sports attending
Indiana State Teacher’s College in Terre Haute, IN, for two years, where he was a scholarship freshman
center on its football team.
He served in the United
States Army during World War II until his medical discharge. He then
attended the University of Evansville, receiving a B.A. degree. Following graduation Dr. Collins
served as minister at the Grandview Indiana Methodist Church. After several years there, he became the
minister at the Methodist Church in Bondville, Ill.,
and simultaneously attended Garrett Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill. Dr.
Collins graduated from Garrett in with a Masters in Divinity degree and
thereafter served a series of churches in the Central Illinois District of the
United Methodist Church, including Centenary in Jacksonville, Douglas Avenue in
Springfield, First Methodist in Monmouth and First Methodist in Rock
Island. In addition, he was appointed as the District Superintendent for
the Central Illinois District of the United Methodist Church. In 1967 the Trustees of MacMurray
College awarded him an honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree.
He was a member of the
Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs, Lions Club, and was a 32nd Degree Mason.
Dr. Collins will be interred
in the Chapel Mausoleum at Memorial Park Cemetery in Evansville, in a private ceremony.
