Vernon Lowell Collins

Vernon Lowell (‘Preacher’) Collins died peacefully on August 22, 2025, at NHC-Maury Regional Transitional Care Center in Columbia, TN. He was 91 years old. His sons were at his side.

Vernon Lowell Collins was born May 22, 1934, at Ellard, MS to Elmer Leonard Collins and Nannie Smith Collins. He was the fifth of nine children who grew up on the family’s farm. As a boy, he disrupted a summer revival meeting by calling out for a drink of the preacher’s water. It worked, so he repeated the request again… and again. His father was not pleased and punished him with a long, tall drink of water from the well bucket. He was never thirsty again. His siblings began calling him ‘Preacher’s Water’ which was quickly shortened to ‘Preacher’. No one who knew him as a boy remembers his actual first name – to his nieces and nephews he was always Uncle Preacher.

He attended Ellard High School where he played basketball. He earned money during high school by arriving early to start the classroom fires and clear the well. As a teenager, he rented 5 acres of undeveloped farmland from his uncle and raised 5 bales of cotton. He spent his earnings on a tan and white Chrysler which he modified for maximum speed. Thereafter, he could most often be found racing the back roads of Calhoun County, MS.

He moved to Memphis, TN after high school. He drove bread trucks and streetcars. He married a girl from Ecru, MS and was drafted into the United States Army. He served in the 25th Army Postal Unit in Baumholder, Germany. Upon leaving the army, he took the civil service exam and began a decades-long career with the US Post Office, later the US Postal Service. At one point, buff colored address cards littered the family dinner table as he learned the newly introduced zip code system. Later, IBM punch cards spread across the same table as mail processing became computerized. He retired as an executive for the USPS Southern Region.

He fathered two sons, Mark Robin Collins of Glen Rock, NJ and Barry Lowell Collins of Franklin, TN. He earned an associate’s degree, a bachelor’s degree, and two master’s degrees while working full time and raising his family. He joined the Tennessee Air National Guard unit at Memphis and was an original member of the 164th Civil Engineering Squadron formed in 1969. He traveled with the Tennessee Air National Guard providing installation engineering support to Air Force units around the world. He enjoyed participating as a member of the Tennessee Air National Guard bowling team at national tournaments. After 38 years of service, Vernon retired in 1994 at the rank of Senior Master Sergeant having served as the Senior Enlisted Leader for the 164th Airlift Wing. His Air National Guard buddies are among his closest friends.

He married the love of his life Shirley Grace Locke of Ramer, TN in 1985. After retirement, he returned to farming on the Locke homestead. He raised cattle, goats, and catfish and bailed hay. He gave his grandchildren childhoods filled with farm experiences very like his sons experienced as boys on their grandfather’s farm. Grace and Vernon travelled across the US and Europe. They cruised the Caribbean many times from their vacation home in Lake Wales, FL.

He was above all else a storyteller. He regaled his children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, Air National Guard buddies, and friends with tales of farm and military life – none of which were entirely true. His brother Jesse was often the foil of his farming stories. He told the same tales repeatedly, embellishing with each retelling.

He is preceded in death by his wife Grace, his parents, and siblings Elmer Junior, Jeanette Anderson, Mattye Ruth, Noel, Jesse, and Boyd. He is survived by his sister Betty Collins Peaks (Bob) of Gulfport, MS and brother Scott Collins (Reeda) of Bruce, MS along with his sons Mark (Denton Stargel) and Barry (Emily Frey Collins), his grandchildren Ryne (Heather) of Cary, NC, Tyler of Nashville, TN, and Briley Holmes (Andrew) of Savannah, TN and his great-grandchildren Scarlett and Maddox Collins, and Mack and Collins Holmes, numerous other Collinses, as well as neighbors and friends in Columbia, Ramer, and Memphis, TN as well as Corinth and Bruce, MS.

The family will receive visitors on Wednesday, September 3rd at 10 am followed by a funeral service at 11 am at Shackleford’s Funeral Directors, 160 Cypress Ave, Selmer, TN. After a gathering for family and friends at Moody Cat Café, 114 Houston Ave Selmer, TN 38375 from noon to 1:30 pm. Burial will take place at 2 pm at Sulphur Springs Cemetery, 2735 Dunaway Rd, Selmer, TN. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the Airmen Memorial Foundation at hqamf.org/donate, or AMF, 5211 Auth Rd, Suitland, MD 20746.