Jack B. Collins

Jack B. Collins was born over a hundred years ago on May 28, 1916 in Memphis. He lived his entire life in Shelby County. He was a world traveler and when he was asked, where you best like to live in all the places you have been he always answered the question, “Memphis.”

He worked thirty years from 1938 until 1968 for the I.C.R.R. as an electrician following closely in his Dad’s footsteps who was a locomotive engineer. His Dad would often take him on his runs to Paducah, KY and taught him how to drive the trains. Being so young he would often fall asleep on a pile of rags on the floor of the cab as the wheels churned along the tracks. He loved his work, walking all over Johnston Yard in the south end of Memphis and Central Station. At Christmas he decorated their 30 feet tall Christmas Tree in the lobby of the station. The railroad had 5 towers each 100 feet high which he climbed regularly to maintain the lights at the top. He bravely did a hand stand at the top of a tower on a $5 bet that he wouldn’t. He missed only 5 days work in all 30 years.

He was a man of integrity and taught his children what his father taught him that, “You come into this world with nothing but your word and your name and you should keep them both in good standing. If you must borrow see that it is returned promptly in as good or better condition than it was loaned to you. If you ever owe someone never hide away but go and tell them when they can expect to be paid and keep your word. Above all, treat others as you would have them treat you.”

He worked hard, played hard and loved people especially small children and always had Life Savers in his pocket for the little ones at church. They knew and ran to him for that little mint. He enjoyed teaching the Intermediate Boys Sunday School Class at Labelle Haven Baptist Church in Whitehaven for the many years he lived in that area.

Once the children flew the nest he and his wife traveled the world. When he was raising his youngest daughter he never had the audacity to even dream of traveling on railroad pay. Yet they covered much of the globe with few exceptions. He met so many friends and exchanged emails from those friends from Germany to New Zealand, Mexico to Montana, all over the states and several other countries in Europe. He was a very capable computer user and scanned his nearly 9000 pictures into his PC, filing them in directories sorted by the country they had been taken in and then went back and renamed each picture so that his family would understand what they were looking at. He developed carpel tunnel in both wrists from all that work but it kept him busy in his lonely hours after his wife Lou past away.

The time finally came when he could no longer maintain his independence and needed help. His daughter came and whisked him and his little dog Muffin away to live with her because she could not bear to see him a nursing home. He lived with her for about 15 months before he suddenly became ill and went to the arms of his Lord and Savior

He passed away on August 16, 2016.

The family will receive friends on Saturday, August 20, 2016 from 8:30 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. at Memphis Funeral Home Poplar Chapel. Funeral services will be conducted at 10 a.m. in the chapel of Memphis Funeral Home, 5599 Poplar Avenue, Memphis with interment to follow at Memphis Memory Gardens, 6444 Raleigh LaGrange, Memphis, TN