Milton Collins

“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”  2 Corinthians 5:1

Mr. Milton Irvin Collins, Sr., 81, son on the late Luther Peter and Thelma Yancy Collins, was born January 24, 1936 in Nash County, North Carolina.  He departed this life on Friday, March 31, 2017 at the Durham VA Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.

At an early age, he was baptized and became a member of Greenwood Baptist Church.

As a young man, he later moved to Richmond, VA where he was employed as a mechanic.  Milton decided that he would enlist in the U.S. Army where he served a tour of duty.  It was there that he met the love of his life: Catherine Yates, and discovered his passion for driving tractor trailers across the U. S., a job that he would enjoy for nearly fifty years.  This job took him over forty states, and covered millions of miles.

In 1987, he returned to North Carolina where he continued driving trucks, but his passion was working in his garden.  He was affectionately known as the “collard man.”

The funeral service will be conducted Saturday, April 8, 2017 from the Greenwood Baptist Church at1:00 PM.  Reverend Eddie Lawrence, pastor, will deliver the eulogy.  Interment will follow in the church cemetery.

He leaves to cherish his memory, his loving wife of forty-seven years: Catherine D. Collins of the home; two sons: Will “Pete” McRae (Jackie) of Silver Spring MD, and Milton Collins, Jr. (Erica) of Augusta, GA; two daughters: Kathleen Martin (Morris) of Macon, NC, and Angela “Annette” Smith of Richmond, VA; eleven grandchildren; two great-grandchildren;  two brothers: Luther “L. P.” Collins (Margaret) of Henderson, NC, and Mack Parham (Linda) of Richmond, VA; three sisters: Sarah Walker, Shirley Hicks, and Thelma “Ann” Taylor (Roger), all of Warrenton, NC; one brother-in-law: Clarence Wright of Richmond, VA; and a host of nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

There will be a private family viewing at 6:00 PM in the R. H. Greene Funeral Home Chapel.

The arrangements are entrusted to R. H. Greene Funeral Home of Warrenton, NC.