Rev. Tom Collins, a retired Baptist minister, died early Monday morning, March 16, 2009 in Lumberton, North Carolina. He was 75 years old. John Thomas Collins was born in Mullins, SC, on January 15, 1934, the son of A. Rupert and Emily O\\chr(39)Neal Collins. He was one of seven children. Collins served more than thirty years as a Baptist minister in North and South Carolina.

\\"Tommy\\" Collins, as his friends and family knew him, grew up in Lumberton, NC. During his junior year in high school, the Collins family relocated back to Mullins, where the strapping young man caught the attention of hall-of-fame coach, Fred McCall. McCall taught Collins the game of baskeball and encouraged him to use his natural athletic abilities as a member of the track & field team. Collins played center for Mullins High School on the 1952 state championship team and earned state medalist honors in shot put, discus and high jump as a member of the track squad.

Tom Collins atended the University of South Carolina on an athletic scholarship and lettered in both basketball and track. He was a participant in the first ACC Basketball Tournament game for the Gamecocks in 1954 against Wake Forest. As a member of the USC track and field team under Coach Weems Baskin, Collins competed in three events - shot put, discus and high jump. In both 1955 and 1956 he medaled in the high jump and discus events at the South Carolina Intercollegiates and the ACC Championships, earning first place in the high jump at both meets. He graduaed from the University of South Carolina with a B.S. in Biology in 1956.

During summer breaks, Collins worked as a counselor at Camp Ridgecrest and later at Camp Rockmont in the North Carolina mountains. There, while working with young men in the camp environment, he felt God\\chr(39)s Call into the ministry. Rev. John T. Collins was ordained into the ministry in 1955 by the First Baptist Church, Mullins. He received theological training from Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY and Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest, NC. His first pastorates were Lennon\\chr(39)s Cross Roads Baptist Church and Evergreen Baptist Church in North Carolina.

Collins enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1961 and attended Officers Candidate School in Newport, RI. He visited 28 different countries while serving as a chaplain aboard U.S. Naval destroyers. Once, while aboard DD701 John W. Weeks, he was invited to visit Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie\\chr(39)s palace. The most noteworthy experience of his military career was a 13-month tour of duty in the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Vietnam. A photograph of Chaplain Collins baptizing a young marine in a jungle stream currently hangs in the Marine Corps Museum at Quantico, VA.

After receiving a honorable discharge as a Lt. Commander in the U.S. Navy, Collins served thirty years as a Baptist minister in North Carolina and South Carolina. Among his pastorates are Fair Bluff, NC, FBC Edgefield, SC, Eutaw Heights, Fayetteville, NC, FBC Bishopville, SC, Brookwood, Jacksonville, NC, and Holly Springs, Broadway, NC. Collins also worked with the Brotherhood Department of the North Carolina Baptist State Convention and served as Director of Camp Caraway in Asheboro, NC from 1968-1970. He returned to Lumberton, his boyhood home, in 1988 where he served as pastor of Godwin Heights Baptist Church until his retirement in 2000.

Rev. Collins is survived by his wife, Betty E. Collins; a son Tom Collins of Brevard, NC and his wife Nancy; a daughter Michele Phelps of Fuquay-Varina, NC and husband John; a son Tim Collins of Florence, AL and his wife Jessica; and five grandchildren-Krystle, William, Zeke, Sam and Aurelia. He is preceded in death by two brothers Rupert Collins, David Collins and a sister Tibby Coker Collins. He is survived by a brother, Danny Collins; and sisters Dixie Rentz and Alice Collins.

The family will receive friends 6:00-8:00 PM on Tuesday, March 17, 2009 at Floyd Mortuary at 809 E. 5th Street in Lumberton, NC. Funeral services will be held at 1:00 PM on Thursday, March 19, 2009 at Godwin Heights Baptist Church, 704 Godwin Avenue, Lumberton, NC. Graveside services will be held at 4:00 PM on Thursday, March 19, 2009 at Kennebec Baptist Church Cemetery in Angier, NC.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts be directed to the Campbell University Divinity School or Southeastern Hospice House. Campbell University has always been a special place for our family. John T. Collins served as Student Activities Director there in 1958-59 where he met Betty Ellen, his sweetheart of fifty years. Their three children each attended and graduated from the Buies Creek, NC school. The John T. Collins Divinity School Scholarship has been established at Campbell University to support young men and women studying for full-time Christian service. The family is also most grateful for the compassion, care and support provided by the Hospice House during his final days.