Craig Hoffman Collins

Craig Hoffman Collins, age 97, passed away on Thursday, January 4, 2018. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was a resident of Newport News, Virginia. 1920: Craig was born to Murray Alvin and Edith Hoffman Collins in Philadelphia the youngest of 5 children. 1933: As a young teen, hard times of the great depression forced the family to move to the country side of New Jersey to find work where Craig’s father, a trained civil engineer, died at the age of 49 from heat exhaustion while renovating a grist mill. 1939: Craig graduated from HS in Three Bridges NJ with a letter in track (he ran a 4:40 mile with those short legs of his). His brother Marshall, an ace mechanic who built an airplane with Craig’s help that they flew in the outer banks, joined the Air Corps to repair aircraft in the Philippines. Craig followed his other brothers to Hampton where they bought their mother a house by getting jobs at the Shipyard to support the war buildup. 1942: Tragedy struck again when Marshall endured the rigors of the Philippine invasion and perished in the infamous Bataan Death March. Craig’s mother was never able to fully recover from this tragic event combined with the untimely death of his father. 1944 to1946: Craig joined the Navy and was trained at Pensacola, Camp Peary and Purdue University. He was honorably discharged as an electrician’s mate 3rd class. 1947 to1951: Craig attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI aka Virginia Tech) under the GI Bill and got his degree in Construction Engineering thus following in the footsteps of his father. He returned to his mother’s Hampton home during the summer to continue his work at the shipyard. He remained close to his brother Alvin who retired from the Yard after 41 years. 1951 to 1972: NACA had just been renamed NASA when Craig landed a job with his new VPI degree. An avid golfer, Craig visited his sister living in Augusta Ga to attend the Masters Tournament. There he met his beloved wife, Betty, a local gal who babysat his nephew. They were married in her family’s Augusta Victorian home on May 7th,1964. After their Bahamas honeymoon they headed back to Hampton. Craig continued the Masters tradition attending with Betty many times at their special “Amen Corner” 11th hole. They loved to travel taking trips to the ’68 Summer Olympics in Mexico City and the ’72 Winter Olympics in Sapporo Japan. 1979: Craig retired from NASA having enjoyed a long career engaging in many interesting projects including contributing to the aerospace program in addition to his facilities support function. His work with the earliest communication satellite, Echo, and the huge wind tunnels were favorite topics. In more recent times: Craig was a skilled craftsman and gardener. He built a beautiful addition to their home in Willow Oaks and with Betty created a wonderful Japanese garden complete with decorative stone and solar heated greenhouse. He was a dedicated and decorated member of Kiwanis for many years. Craig moved his membership from First Presbyterian Hampton, where he served as a deacon, to Emmanuel Episcopal to follow his beloved Betty’s faith journey. After her death in 1998 he provided many gifts to the church to honor her service. Inspired by her good works on behalf of our veterans, he rededicated himself to be the faithful servant of Christ’s church. This was apparent to all who knew him as a loving and generous man always willing to lend a cheerful helping hand to those in need despite enduring hard times and tragedy in the early years of his life that may have embittered others of lesser faith. Craig is survived by his niece, Myrna Jane. A celebration of Craig's life will be held at 1:00 pm on Saturday, March 31, 2018 at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 179 E. Mercury Boulevard, in Hampton. A reception will follow the service.