Obit – Mr. Ronnie Collins
Retired Corps of Engineer electrician, Mr. Ronnie Collins of Carthage, was pronounced deceased at 3:28 a.m. Tuesday morning September 12, 2023 at the Riverview Regional Medical Center E. R. in Carthage after suffering a fatal heart attack at his Ballenger Road home. Mr. Collins was 73.
Funeral services from the Carthage Chapel of Sanderson Funeral Home were conducted by Mr. Collins pastor, Dr. Mike Norris of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, at 11 a.m. Saturday morning September 16th. Burial followed in section two at the Ridgewood Cemetery.
The youngest of ten children, he was born Ronnie Wayne Collins in Knoxville, Tennessee on November 7, 1949 and was the son of the late Lloyd Collins and Eva Bounds Collins.
Mr. Collins was preceded in death by seven siblings.
He was a 1967 graduate of Holston High School in Knoxville.
In Allons, Tennessee on September 25, 1971, he was united in marriage to Overton County native, the former Reba Lois Andrews.
He was a member of the Franklin Road Baptist Church in Murfreesboro.
Mr. Collins was an electrician with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers for thirty five years before his retirement in 2005. His last several years with the Corps was at the Center Hill Dam in the Lancaster Community.
Following his retirement he was actively involved in NARFE which is the National Association of Retired Federal Employees.
He was also very involved in Right to Life. During that time he served as President of the Smith County chapter and was a board member of Tennessee Right to Life for many years.
Surviving in addition to his wife Reba of almost fifty two years, are their three children, Stephen Collins and wife Melody of Powell, TN, Scott Collins and wife Beverly of La Vergne, Phillip Collins and wife Gigi of Huntsville, Alabama; sister, Brenda Owens and a brother, David Collins and wife Pat all of Knoxville; four grandchildren, Nathaniel Collins, Aria Collins, Becca Collins, and Celeste Collins.
The Collins family requests memorials to the Tennessee Right to Life at www.tnrtl.org/donate.
SANDERSON of CARTHAGE
djd
Ronnie’s commitment and tireless work on behalf of the weak and vulnerable will always be remembered by friends and members of Tennessee Right to Life. My thoughts and prayers are with Reba and his children.