Betty Ellen Collins

Betty Lou Ellen Collins

(February 12, 1940 – November 13, 2018)

Betty Lou Ellen Collins, of Angier, North Carolina died on Tuesday morning, November 13, 2018.  Born in Angier, North Carolina on February 12, 1940, she was the daughter of the late William Jefferson Ellen and Avis Pearl Ellen.  She grew up in Jacksonville, NC and graduated from Jacksonville High School (’58) where she was a cheerleader and performed as a member of the Marching Band.

Betty attended Campbell College in Buies Creek, North Carolina where she participated in the choir and was chosen as Women’s Campus President.  There she met John Thomas Collins of Mullins, SC, a student at Southeastern Seminary who was working on campus.  They were married on June 4, 1960 at Brookwood Baptist Church in Jacksonville.  The couple moved to Evergreen, North Carolina where Reverend Collins became pastor of the Evergreen and Lennon’s Crossroads Baptist Churches.  For nearly fifty years they worked together serving churches in North and South Carolina, including Fair Bluff (NC), Edgefield (SC), Eutaw Heights (Fayetteville, NC), Bishopville (SC), Brookwood (Jacksonville, NC), Holly Springs (Broadway, NC) and Godwin Heights (Lumberton, NC).  Throughout this ministry, Betty taught Sunday School, VBS, and sang in the choir.

Betty Collins was a primary school teacher with a passion for working with children in first and second grades.  Her nurturing and compassionate attitude was encouraging to students in these developmental years as they learned fundamental reading skills.  Many would return to thank “Mrs. Betty” for her encouraging influence.   It was indeed her kind spirit and her “Just Be Nice” philosophy that endeared her to students, to parents and to everyone she came in contact with. 

Betty Collins is survived by her children - Tom Collins of Conway, NC; Michele Phelps of Buies Creek, NC; and Tim Collins of Florence, AL; her sister, Bonita Walters of Lillington, NC and her brother, Ronald Ellen of Angier, NC.  She leaves behind five grandchildren: Krystle, William, Zeke, Sam and Aurelia.  Her extended family includes many nieces, nephews and cousins.  Her family takes great comfort in the fact that Betty Collins had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and lived her life as a Godly woman who represented that which is pure, lovely and good.  We are confident in her salvation and eternal victory.

Funeral services will be conducted Saturday morning, November 17, 2018 at 11 a.m. at Memorial Baptist Church in Buies Creek, North Carolina.  Interment will follow at Kennebec Cemetery, where she will be buried beside her husband, Rev. John T. Collins. 

The family will be available to receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, November 16 at O’Quinn-Peebles-Phillips Funeral Home in Lillington, North Carolina.

Memorial gifts may be made to: Dementia Alliance of NC, 9131 Anson Way Suite 206, Raleigh, NC; or John T. Collins Divinity School Scholarship, Campbell University, Buies Creek, NC 27506.

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