July 5, 2001
Lester Collins services Friday
Memorial services for Lester Collins, 79, Dora, will be at 2 p.m. Friday, July 6, 2001, at Carter Funeral Home of West Plains, with Bobby Brazeal officiating.
Mr. Colins died 10:20 p.m. Monday July 3, 2001, at West Vue Nursing Home, West Plains. he was born march 8, 1922, at Dora, the son of George and Mellvina Croney Collins.
On Dec. 12, 1940, he was married at Pottersville to Ethel Epley.
Mr. Collins was a lifelong auto mechanic in the Dora and West Plains area and owned garages in both places. He later retired from maintenance at Southwest Truck Body. He served in the CCC in the 1930s, and served as a bus driver and board member for the Dora School District in the 19550s.
He enjoyed hunting, fishing and visiting with friends and family. He will be remembered for his sense of humor and his ability to make those around him laugh.
Mr. Collins was of the Church of God faith.
Survivors include three sons and one daugher, Donald Collins and wife, Thelma, Ronald Collins and Phyllis Coe, all of West Plains, and Larry Collins and wife, Carolyn, Springfield; five grandchildren, Teri Hall, Travis Collins, Shane Coe and Nathan Collins, all of West Plains, and Amanda Collins, Springfield; six great-grandchildren; four brothers, James and Lucille Collins Ava, Leslie and Evelyn Collins, St. Joseph, George and Lucille Collins, St. Charles, and Leon and Nova Mageehon, Dora; two sisters-in-law, Bertha Collins, West Plains, and Lorena Freeman, Fairfax; three brothers-in-law, Wendell Epley and Don Epley, both of Springfield; many nieces and nephews; and his wonderful staff of nurses at West Vue who gave him loving care for more than seven years.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, two half-brothers, two half-sisters, one sister-in-law, three brothers-in-law and one nephew.
Burial will be in Oak Lawn Cemetery under the direction of Carter Fuenral Home Inc. of West Plains.