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Lee Roy Collins
LEE ROY COLLINS
Cedar Rapids
Pastor Lee Roy Collins, 92, of Cedar Rapids, died Sunday, July 20, 2014, at the Bartels Lutheran Retirement Community in Waverly. Services: 10:30 a.m. Friday, July 25, at St. Mark's United Methodist Church by Pastor Bonnie Koeppen. Burial: 2:30 p.m. Dumont Cemetery, Dumont. Friends may visit with the family at the church after 9 a.m. Friday.
Lee Roy is survived by two daughters, Virginia Collins of Aurora, Ill., and Linda Collins of Elkader; a son, Keith (Elizabeth) Collins of Waverly; four grandchildren, Amy Delaney of Lake Villa, Ill., Jess (Amy) Collins of Malta, Ill., Brian (Debbie) Collins of Rockville, Md., and Jeanette (Adam) Scharnhorst of Oelwein; nine great-grandchildren; a brother, Darwin (Jeanette) Collins of Sheffield; and two sisters, Margaret Merrick of Phoenix, Ariz., and Bonnie Krienke of Durand, Ill.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Wilma; a brother, Alvin Collins; and two sisters, Juanita Johnson and Hester Warren.
Lee Roy was born Oct. 12, 1921, in Galt, the son of Clarence and Grace State Collins. He married Wilma Ebling on Nov. 9, 1941, in Aredale. She died in 2012. He graduated from Hansel High School in 1939 and began farming. At age 32, he felt called into the ministry and went to college. He graduated in 1956 with a bachelor's degree from Cornell College and then in 1959 from the Chandler School of Theology at Emory University. He was ordained in 1959 by the Methodist Church, North Iowa Conference and dedicated his life to ministry and serving the needs of others, until his retirement from active church leadership in 1987.
Lee Roy served several charges throughout Iowa including: Springville-Viola; Garrison-Mount Auburn; Elgin-Illyria-Clermont; Toledo-Chelsea; St. Mark's Cedar Rapids-Palo UMC; and Des Moines, Epworth, from where he retired. He then returned to Cedar Rapids to make his home and serve as a volunteer chaplain at St. Luke's Hospital.
Lee Roy loved spending time with his family. He enjoyed singing in the church choir, was fascinated with antique engines and tractors and never lost his love of farming.
Memorials may be directed to St. Mark's United Methodist Church.
Online condolences may be left for the family at
www.teahenfuneral
home.com.
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