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Submitted: 4/17/18 • Approved: 8/24/19 • Last Updated: 8/27/19 • R162452-G0-S3
US Navy
World War II
31 December 1926 - 29 September 2014
Spouse: Blanche Ada (Keating) Collie Married 12 July 1948
Parents: John Thomas & Mary (Mattox) Collie
Inscription: Wither thou goest I will go
John Deral Collie son of John Thomas Collie and Mary Mae Mattox Collie, was born December 31, 1926 in Jermyn, Jack County, Texas. He was attending high school in Hobbs, New Mexico, when World War II began. He enlisted in the United States Navy and served in the Pacific Theater. After the war, John returned, married Blanche Ada Keating, and they attended college receiving degrees from Hardin-Simmons University and in time Masters Degrees from Eastern New Mexico University. They worked as teachers and administrators in Lovington Public Schools, New Mexico Junior College and Santa Fe Public Schools before relocating in the area of Fort Worth, Texas. They spent the next twenty years in education and as weekend ranchers at their ranch in Jack County, Texas. John retired from the Castleberry Independent School District and spent the last few years near Lubbock, Texas, and at their mountain home in New Mexico which he built in sections at home in Hurst, Texas, loaded on a gooseneck trailer and assembled on the cabin site at Mineral Hill, New Mexico. John was a gifted musician, church choir director, pianist and soloist. He is survived by his wife, Blanche Ada Keating Collie, and their daughter, Cheryl Lynn Collie of Wolfforth, Texas.
- Blanche Ada Keating Collie, wife who shared his life for over sixty-six years
Contributed on 4/17/18 by r19g49r
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Record #: 162452