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| These members of the Builder' Class, originated 25 years ago in the Methodist Sunday school department with Mrs. Maude Collins as teacher,held an anniversary party in the church Fellowship room Monday evening. Mrs. Collins is in the center of front row, the fourth from left, and most of those seated were among her original pupils. The party was featured with a grand covered dish supper and an interesting reminiscent talk by Mrs. Collins. Dr. Charles Rowe, the present pastor, was a special guest speaker. |
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| Harold Journal story from October 1954 - with identification of some members |
Mrs. Roy
Collins Is Honored by Women of Class Which She has Taught 25 years
The Builders Class of the Methodist Church
met Monday evening in the fellowship room for a 6:30 covered-dish
luncheon. While it was a regular
meeting, it also commemorated the 25th anniversary of the beginning
of the class. Mrs. Roy Collins has been
the teacher during this entire period.
Two out-of-town members were present;
Edith Apple Abbott, of Yorktown, and Beulah Wynn Hobbs of Sioux City,
Iowa. A beautiful birthday cake, the
gift of Mrs. Harry Fugle, a class member, centered the table. Crystal candle-sticks with white tapers and
red, white and blue decorations made an effective setting for the thirty
members present.
The program had been arranged using the
letters of the word “BUILDERS” as the theme.
B-eginnings of the class were given by Mrs. Collins while all were at
the table. Later, after the traditional
U-mph march, chairs were placed about the fireplace and the remainder of the
program enjoyed.
Erma Taylor, the new president, told of
the I-ncrease in membership. L-etters
from many former members were read by Ethelyn Abbott. Vera Payton had the D-evotions, using Hugh
Black’s meditation. “Three Dreams.” E-nthusiasm for the new year was well given
by Erma Taylor, followed by R-eminiscing by Leone Gossett and Alice
Freeman. This led to a general
accounting of incidents both interesting humorous, S-ervices of the Past gave
Freda Humphreville an opportunity to recall many activities of this very busy
splendid class.
Dr. Charles Rowe, a guest made appropriate
remarks. To Doris Harris was given the
honor of presenting Mrs. Collins with a lovely gift of appreciation.
Undated article from Clarinda Herald Journal:
Funeral services for Mrs. Roy Collins are
to be held Tuesday at 10:30 am following her death at the Municipal Hospital
Friday at 5:05 pm.
The service will be at the First Methodist
Church in which she was active. In
absence of the Rev David Ash, who is in New York on vacation, the family has
asked the Rev. Lester Greenwood of Ottumwa, her pastor for nine years, to
conduct the service.
Casketbearers will be sons of close
friends of the family, including members of the Sor Rex A Mex Club and
neighbors. They will be Bob Williams,
Charles Sinn, Ken Cassat, John Woolson, G. W. Richardson and John Sperry.
Maud Collins was the daughter of the late Mr.
and Mrs. A. T. Clark who operated the Linderman Hotel for many years. She was reared in the Savannah and Maryville
communities and was married to Roy Collins on July 17, 1912. Mr. & Mrs. Collins moved to Clarinda in
1919 and their recent home has been at 122 W Garfield Street.
She is survived by two sons, Robert R
Collins of Des Moines, assistant vice-president and claims attorney for Allied
Mutual Insurance and Dr. C. Thomas Collins of Coral Gables, FL, professor in
the College of Music at Miami (FL) University and four grandchildren. Two brothers are orlie A. Clark of Ottumwa
and Bert T. Clark of Chillicothe, MO, and a sister is Mrs. Reginald (Amye)
Oliver of Glendale, CA.
Dr. Collins of Florida and Mrs. Oliver of
California are flying to Omaha and will arrive in Clarinda this Monday
afternoon.
Mrs. Collins had an unusually active life,
especially in the women’s work of the Methodist Church. She was widely known for her activities
through a 7-states area as jurisdicational and conference officer of the Woman’s
Society of Christian Service. She had
taught the Builders Sunday School class in Clarinda for 40 years. She was member Chapter AE of PEO and Mr. and
Mrs. Collins were part the Sor Rex A Mex Club which together for many years.
It was on Memorial Day, May 1954, that a
tragic automobile accident in Missouri crushed both Mr. and Mrs. Collins severally. Mrs. Collins recovered, but her husband was
bedfast and required constant care until his death on April 20, 1957. Mrs. Collins continued her unbounding
activities even after a near-stroke a few months ago.
She was in the back yard of a neighbor Friday morning when discovered lying unconscious, probably an hour after she
had fallen. She did not regain consciousness
and died from cerebral hemorrhage at the hospital.
Walker Funeral Home has charge of the
local arrangements.
Below are pictures from, and retyped story from, the undated Herald Journal,
probably 1959 or later:
Mrs. Collins’ “Girls” Tell Tale
Below are pictures from, and retyped story from, the undated Herald Journal,
probably 1959 or later:
Mrs. Collins’ “Girls” Tell Tale
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Five
women gathered to remember a Sunday school class that faded away – after 60
years in the United Methodist Church of
Clarinda.
A few members of the Builders Class still
come on Sunday morning to the church, but the good times together are locked
away in the dust of the third floor “Crow’s Nest,” where they met to read
Scripture on Sunday morning.
The women introduced themselves in the
gray light of the afternoon:
Mrs.
Adda Hoskins, a gracious, white-haired lady; Mrs. Hyldred Reese, a cherry
outspoken matron of many years with a marvelous wit; Mrs. Freida Oehler, a wee
bit younger and quiet with a special dignity:
Mrs. Doris Harris, the eldest of the five, whose eyes twinkled when she
remembered the years and their saints; Mrs. Margaret Lawson, perky and soft of speech.
On third floor
The
women told of their room on the third floor, as it was in 1918, when the boys
came home from France, and about their teacher Mrs. Roy Collins.
Mrs. Collins, they recalled, taught them
from 1918 to 1959 – 41 years; they affirmed their special response to each
other, to the church and the world around them in Clarinda was tailored by
Maude Collins.
The community knew them as “Mrs. Collins
girls.”
“Mrs. Collins did a lot of her teaching by
lecturing,” said Mrs. Reese, as she recalled, also, “the many extra monthly
meetings and projects, the social times and current event studies.”
Mrs. Collins was “very mission minded,”
they agreed, when one of them reached back into half a century and mentioned
the “Ump fund.”
UMP Fund
Mrs. Harris sang the “ump Fund” song; she
was the only one who remembered the words they used to sing as they marched
around the room and tossed their pennies into the pot for mission projects.
How many can remember the song? “Little
Peter Rabbit had a ump on his nose.”
Mrs. Oehler was quick to suggest that the
Builders Class girls were the “first women libbers.”
“We didn’t even permit our husbands to
come into the class,” she said, tickled at the audacity, or courage, in forcing
husbands to meet in their own group in the church.
Mrs. Collis told her girls, “Whenever you
get married, do not lose your identity.”
Now, in the mid-afternoon of diminishing
years, Maude Collins’ enjoinders were still current advisories.
Wonderful character
“She had a wonderful character, you wanted
to please her,: said Mrs. Lawson.
Over the years, Builders Class members,
under their teacher’s influence, began to accept more and more responsibilities
in the church, but they retained their class membership.
They met in each other’s homes for many
years on Monday nights, and during the week, also, for social occasions,
picnics and study sessions.
The afternoon socials always drew “big
crowds.” First came the lessons, then
devotions, followed by book reviews and always the roll call.
The memories came tumbling forward on
their lips. “Leona Garrett always had
the September picnic. The social
meetings held us together.”
“We were rather ordinary in many ways.”
The girls in gray curls and waves
sheepishly admitted to being clannish, at first, in 1918, when “we wanted to
keep it for only the high school friends, but later on, we opened it up to
everyone.”
Bridal Shower
Every time one of the members was married
the class gave her a bridal shower.
They muddled through the Depression.
And they smiled when one of them took
pride in being the first member to “drive an automobile – I cranked the engine,
and I broke my arm.”
Was it Mrs. Hoskins or Mrs. Reese who was
the first girl in the class to have her hair cut? Memories merge with events and recollections.
The Rev. Jerold L. Irvin, an easy going
clergyman, came into the room briefly. “I
hate to have the class demise come under my tenure,” he said.
They were young in long-ago 1918 when
Clarinda gathered itself to celebrate Armistice Day, and some of the girls came
into town for the occasion.
Good dresses
They married and carried their babies to
the Builders Class and were painstaking on Sunday morning to wear good dresses
for Sunday school and church attendance.
Mrs. Collins died in 1959 shortly after
she and her husband were involved in an automobile accident. Her story, a tale of one committed Christian
educator, and the girls who learned their values from her in the Crow’s Nest
are unique in the lore of Clarinda and its United Methodist Church.
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