Edgar Collins (1922-2009)
COLLINS, WENTLING, CROW, JOHNSON
Posted By: Ames Tribune
Date: 11/9/2009 at 06:53:25
THE AMES TRIBUNE, Ames, Story County, Iowa, Sunday, November 8, 2009.
Edgar Collins, of Ames, passed away suddenly Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009. The Rev. Paul Johnson will officiate a memorial service at 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, at United Church of Christ Congregational Church in Ames.
Ed was a devoted husband and loving father, as well as being a skilled engineer, beloved professor and an avid outdoorsman.
He was born and raised in Ames, enjoying an active childhood at Brookside Park and up and down Squaw Creek. His father was an inventor and professor of agricultural engineering at Iowa State College, and taught young Ed the skills to build and fix pretty much anything, from buildings and boats to tractors and toilets.
Ed came of age during World War II. The Army recognized his talent, so instead of sending him off to fight, they sent him to school at LSU, where he became a ballistics expert and earned a master’s in mathematics. Arriving in Europe shortly after V-E Day, he was detailed to calibrate captured artillery pieces so they could be shipped off to the Pacific theater. The Europeans did not want any more guns going off, so after knocking around France, Belgium and Holland for a few months, he was sent back home and discharged.
He took a break from the Army in December 1944 to marry his Cass Lake sweetheart, Dorothy Jane (Sue) Wentling, and spend a honeymoon with her at the primitive family cabin at Cass Lake in northern Minnesota.
He returned to Ames to complete a master’s in chemical engineering, and worked in the research labs at Sinclair Oil in Chicago for eight years before taking a position at Iowa State. Back in Ames again, he moved his growing family into the house on Brookridge where he was raised.
At Iowa State, he spent 37 years on the faculty in chemical engineering, where he was a friend to his colleagues, a mentor to many students and an active member of the state chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
He taught each of his five children a love of the outdoors, taking them hiking, fishing, camping and canoeing, along with annual berry-picking forays in the woods around Cass Lake and along Squaw Creek. He was a consistent recreational athlete, enjoying cross country skiing and windsurfing long before those sports became fashionable. He was known around Ames for his regular jogging runs on city streets in his bare feet.
He was an active member of his church and a strong supporter of the Boy Scout program. As a Boy Scout leader, he worked with local scout groups of all ages, and was awarded the Silver Beaver for his 21 years of service.
He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Dorothy “Sue” Collins; children (spouses), John (Anne) Collins, of Hudson, Wis., Lee (Kaye) Collins, of Livermore, Colo., Hugh (Paula) Collins, of Brownwood, Texas, Christopher (Martha) Collins, of Bloomington, Ind., and Patricia (Darrell) Crow, of New Albany, Miss., as well as 15 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
He was preceeded in death by his parents; his older brother, Stanley Collins; and his older sister, Mary Johnson.
In lieu of flowers, please send a donation to the ISU Foundation General Scholarship Fund. Condolences may be sent to Sue Collins at Green Hills Retirement Community, 2200 Hamilton Drive, Ames, IA, 50014.
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