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Title
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Collins, Oliver J.
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extracted text
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OR. OUVfR COlliNS,
METHODIST lEADER,
t'f'i-IS FOUND DEAD
Pastor Was Moving Sp ir it
Beh ind Million Doll ar
Church Expansion
SERVICES
ARE
SUNDAY
Dr. Ol h·er J. Coll ins, 64 years
old , the moving spirit behind lhe
$1,000,000 new building program
of the First l\Tcthodist church,
was found dead in his home :1t
412 North Broad Street Thursday
aftemoon. Hospita lized last year
and under treatment for high
blood pressure, death apparently
was caused by a heart attack.
Dr. Collins was found by his
wife Ruth when s he returned
hom e from a retreat for· Methodist minis ters' wives at Walden
Woods, near Brighton.
Coming to Adrian in June 1959,
Dr. Collins formerly was pastor
af th e Trinity Methodist church
in Hig hland Park. The g reater
part of Dr. Collins' ministry was
in De laware . his native state. ln
Wilmington he was pastor of St.
P aul' s Methodist church, the
Mother Chu rch of Method ism,
and for a time was district s uperintendent of the Wilmington District. In Baltimore he pa stored
the Love ly Lane ch urch.
He Went When• Need('!(
Mrs. Collins was once asked
whv Dr. Collins lef1 the East
wh~re he had most certainly
made his mark.
She replied . "Somt>one h e<~rs
you, likes you and believes you
can ser ve his church. You go
when• you £E"el you are needed .''
And Dr. Collins. a tr ue minister
of the faith. wE"nl where he was
needed, a lways. An oulst<~nrl iu g
speaker, Dr. Collins was in demann hy clubs a nd lodges and for
civic funcl ions in addttion to his
work in th e cburch.
Arlnan Methodists were thinking of a new church p lant when
Dr. Collins arrived. With the
church rdatcd Adnan College
growing by leaps and boUJlds,
Methodists had visions of greater
unity between the church and the
collegP. They were cognizant o! J
the rffl"ctive and far reaching rt>- l
Jations hip hctwc1·n !he c· 1 111 ch 1~
and Albion College ~~ AlbiOn. 1
They hopt>d for somh hmg similat·j ,
here.
Tne uc" ~.:nlll'Cll plant was a'
li ving dream for Dr. Collins. H1s
enthusiasm and orga nizational
ability .gave the dream to others.
There· was great sadness in the
r anks of Methodism today bec:lllse one who had done so murh
with bricks and stone a nd most of
all the spirit of his people was
f!One.
1
Winning Ways
1
A man of winning ways and i
g1eat persullsion , Dr. Collins look 1i
up Lhe cause with skill, ability i
a nd zeal. Under his direction 1 1
1\lelhodists were united as never
before. They brgan rai ~ in g money
for the new church plant and t
Sept. 2 Dr. Col lins led the con- 1
gregalion from the old church j
at East Maumee and Brt'ad Strcet
to the new Fellowship Center off 1:
West Maple Aven ue within easy !
wa lking distance of the Adrian
College campus. Services have
been held in the Fellowship Center since. The sa nctuary, nearing
completion , will be occupied next
year.
Ari·angemcnts are UJlder way
for a fitting m emorial for Dr.
Collins in U1e new chul'ch. ~ohn
Hickma n,
building committee
chairman, is accepting conlnbutions
from
Method ist s
and
friends. ·
Dr. Collins was a member of
the Masons, the Delaware Consistory, the H i-Twelve club and
U1e Kiwanis Club.
.
The son of ha and Lena Collins,
he was born April 27 , 1898,. in
Mill sboro, Del. He was marned
to Ruth Lecates in Sussex county, Del., Aug. 16, 1924.
.
Dr. Collins is survived by his
widow; one daug hter Jean of New
York City, an air line st.ewa rdcss
who was in 1\Iadrid, Spa m , at the
time of her !ather's d eath; one
son, Oliver Clovin of Wan·e~ ,
1\'lich.; a brother Paul of B~ltt
morc and a sis ter, Mrs. Harnson
Cordrey o£ New York City. Four
grandchildren also survive ...
Dr. John Dawson will oWc1ate
al funeral services Sunday at 3
p.m. in the new Methodisl l•'ellow5hip Hall. Burial will be in ~Vtl
mington
Tuesday
mormng.
Friends may call at lhe Braun
I<'ulleral Home aflcr 7 o'clock this
evening and until 1 p.m. Sunday.
l
A TR IBUTE
To t he Ed itor of The Tclcgra m:
There mu st Le many other people who knew Oli\·cr CoUins better U1an I did, bul he has done
so much for hL God. his church,
and all of us, lhal maybe I can
help voice what so many people
fell for him.
''Ollie" is whc:t most people
called him. No disrespect was
meant. On the cont rary. What
elsa would you call a person who 1
had always been the re, through 1
what joys and sorrows you had j
known.
I don't think he believed in a l
cold , rese r ved, autocratic religion. H e must have fe lt U1at
Christianity was meant to be
warm , d ynamic a nd energized,
because this is tllC way he l ived.
In U1is world of speed, pt·ogr ess,
automation and biller words, Ollie always had lime for pleasant
wot·ds, a s mile, a nd even a hug,
a nd all th is with two or three
other meetings to attend the same
day. You could usually fi nd him
one of three places - at the hos·
pita), the chw·ch, or another
m eeting.
My first thought after heal'ing
' about his dea th was "why?" But,
you sec, he did leave us a legacy
- one of faith, hope and Jove for
a ll me n.
There can be no teat·s for s uch
a man -for his famil y, yes, and
maybe a few seUish tears because we s till t hink we need him
more th an God does. There is no
one that 1 can think of, U10ugh,
who used his life for more purpose th an Ollie. He knew h is. tim e
was not his own, and he a lso
knew more than a nyone, I know,
that he was a child of God, and
his w!10le life was ba sed on
this. Does life mean more than
this?
~I r s . John L. Walper,
732 Micbigao Avenue,
Adri an.
•
FUNERALS
Dr. Oliver J . Collins
Sct·vices lor Dr. Oliver J . Collins, pastor of the First Melhorli ~l
church, who died Thursday at hts
home at 412 North Broad Street,
were la r gely attended Sunday at
3 p.m. in Fellowsh ip Center on
West Maple Avenue. Dr. John
Dnwson officia ted, assist1•cl hy Dr.
Edwin Sli icket·, clisll·•ct supl"rin'tcndcnt ; Dl'. IToworcl Emt'l!'k,
chapla in of Adrian College. the
Rev. Robert Moore, assistant pasLor of U1e church and Dr. William
c. s. Pellowc, former pastor.
The chou· sang two sclecllons.
Adnan miJ11sters attended in a
body. '!'he bearers were Norm an
Mountain, Carl Kackstetler, Ke nn eth B etz, Ned Howard, ~eorge
Scott Harold Mott, John Htckman
a nd Robert Tuttle. Further services anrl hnrinl will he Tnesd~y
at the Grncelawn cemetery . m
Wilmmgton , Del
The Adt·lan
Lodge No. 19, F.&A .M., .conduclNl
services Saturday evcnmg at the
,Braun l 'uncral Home.
DR. O LIVER .J. CO LLI NS, 64, pastor
of Adrian Firs t Method ist Chur ch, wa-s
fo und dead in his home by hi s wife Ruth
when s he returned fr om a n Ann Arbor
District minister s' wives' r etreat at
A l\Ias onic serv ice was held Saturdav
evening, October 13, at the Braun Fu·neral Home. On Sunda y, Fellows hit>
Ha ll was cr owded for the funeral service
under the direction of Dr. J ohn H. Dawson, college president. Other s participating were: Dr. Edwin W. Stricker,
di str ict superintendent; Dr. Howard
Emrick, coll ege chaplain; Dr. Wm. C. S.
Pellowe, former pastor ret ired and liv ing
in Adrian; a nd Rev. Rober t Moore, ass istant pastor. The church choir sang
" Onward, Ye People !" by Sibelius a nd
t he ser vice closed with the s inging of
the "Halleluja h Chow s" by Handel.
Dr. Collins
vVa ldenwoods October 11. The cor oner ,
Edward Braun, s aid he had been dead
s ome 12 to 16 hours. Dr. Collins had
spent several weeks in the hosp it al last
spring fo r observation but re p orted!~·
was enjoying norma l health aga in.
H e was born April 27, 1898, in l\lillsboro, Delaware, the son of I ra and Lena
Colli ns and marri ed Ruth Leca tes in
Sussex County, Delaware, Augus t 16,
l 924. He g t·acluated f rom Dr ew Theological Seminary in 1930. After serving
pa sto rates in the Wilm ington and Baltim or e confe rences he was t ra nsfe tTed to
the Detroit Conference in 1952 and was
appoin ted to H ig hland Park Trinity
Church in December of that year. He
became pastor of the Adrian church in
1959 where he led an extensive r elocat ion and build ing progr am now being
undertak en. On September 9 the last
service was held in the old chu rch at
East Maumee and Br oad s tr~ets . At
the close of t he ser vice the congregation
moved to the new Fellowsh ip Hall on
Maple Avenue with police escort. It is
hoped the sanctuary, within walking distance of Adrian College and now under
construction, wi ll be r eady for occupancy
by Easter.
S urv ~v ing be~ides his wife a r e: one
so~, Ohver ~l~v1 s of :Wanen; one daug htet , J ea n ~ hvt a C?lhns, a T WA hos tess
who was m Madnd, Spai n, at the t ime
of her father's death a nd r eturned for
the fune r al; fo ur grandchildr en · one
brothet·, Pa ul of Ba lt imor e Ma i·y'la d·
. t et·, l\I rs. H ani son' Cordr e• n f'
a mI one S IS
0
New York City.
Y
Inte rment was in Gracelawn Memorial
Pa rk, Fa .r mhurst,
Delawar e • Rev• Ja 1"VI· S
.
Coo~'· ch st n ct s uperi ntendent of t he
Pemnsula Conf~rence ; Rev. J ohn Woot ten, pet·sona l f rtencl and retired mini ster ·
an~ Former Chief Air For ce Chaplai~
Trvmg Ca q Jenter, pa stor at Milford Delaware, pa r t icipated in the ser vice.
MRS. OLIVER COLLINS of Baltimore,
Md., widow of the late Dr. Oliver Collins
of the Detroit Conference, with her dau ghter, J ean, spent from March 2 to 14 in
Athens, Greece. Dr. Collins was a former
pastor of Adrian First Church h' - 1- ·; i)
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Jf'I/7.S"'
MRS . RUTH P. COLLI NS of Baltf~ore, Md. ,
and REV. PAUL R. DIEHL were married Dece mber 21 in the Hiss United Methodis t
Church, Parkville, Md. The invocation for the
afte rnoon service was given by Rev. Ronald
Run kles and the ceremo ny was perform ed by
Rev. C. Roger Elgert and Rev. Haro ld G. Johnson. Art hu r Surplus was the so loist and Mrs.
Cam ille H. Carruth, organ ist. J he Chance l
Choir sa ng th e cho ral benediction. Mrs. Coilins, the widow of the late Dr. O live r J. Co llins
of the Detro it Co nfere nce, was accompanied
by her son, O liver C. Collins. Her da ugh te r,
Mr s. Jea n 0. McCo mbs, was mat ron of
honor. Francis Die hl served as best man for
his fat her. Sea ting the guests were Michael C.
Collins, Peter E. Colli ns, Thomas P. Die hl,
Te rrence Diehl , Pa ul R. Die hl II, W. Sco tt
Lucas and Robin Diehl. Rev. and Mrs. Dieh l
are resid ing at 5207 Hamp ne tt Ave. , Baltimore, Md . 212"14.
Collins, Oliver J.