[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 21170]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  HONORING THE LIFE OF WILLIAM COLLINS

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. TOM UDALL

                             of new mexico

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 22, 2005

  Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, New Mexico recently lost a 
respected soldier, admired educator, beloved husband and father and 
distinguished citizen. William Collins died peacefully at the age of 84 
on August 29, 2005, at his home in Albuquerque.
  Bill was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on November 14, 1920, but at a 
young age moved with his mother and sister to Boston, Massachusetts. It 
was there that his father, Robert Collins, was recuperating at a 
hospital from wounds suffered at the Battle of Somme in World War I.
  Growing up in East Boston, Bill excelled in baseball and football and 
attended Kents Hill Academy in Maine on a baseball scholarship. A later 
baseball scholarship led Bill to the University of Southern California, 
and after his first year, Massachusetts U.S. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge 
appointed him to the United States Military Academy. At West Point, 
Bill played on two national championship teams with Glenn Davis and Doc 
Blanchard while simultaneously playing baseball as a feared left-handed 
pull hitter. Always a prankster who received numerous demerits, Bill 
would later claim to have held the all-time West Point record for 
``walking the yard'' as punishment for his amusing deeds.
  The United States' involvement in World War II resulted in a 3-year, 
early graduation for Bill's West Point class. Upon graduation in 1945, 
he married Doris Leary in the Cadet Chapel. A lovely lady, Doris would 
be Bill's wife and best friend for 60 years, a union blessed with two 
sons and grandchildren. Bill then joined the 11th Airborne Division as 
a paratrooper. He fought for his country in the Philippines and was 
preparing to parachute into Japan as a Pathfinder when the war ended.
  Serving as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort 
Bragg, Bill was a Company Commander in the 28th Infantry Division in 
Germany and an R.O.T.C instructor at the University of Rhode Island. He 
was then transferred to the U.S. Army Ordnance Corp and served in 
Redstone Arsenal in Alabama and in Korea. Following his tour of duty in 
Korea, Bill served as project engineer for the Sidewinder and Redeye 
missile programs at White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico. 
He subsequently joined the Army's Intelligence Corps and served as a 
counter intelligence agent in Korea, recruiting, planning and directing 
intelligence-gathering missions into North Korea. Bill retired from the 
Army in 1964 with the rank of Major.
  After military retirement, Bill returned to school and earned Masters 
and Doctorate degrees in Latin American Studies from the University of 
New Mexico. For the next 30 years, he taught American and Latin 
American history as well as that of Spain, Portugal and Mexico at 
Purdue University. His classes were so interesting and filled with such 
quick wit that the walls of large lecture halls were lined with 
televisions to accommodate the overflowing attendance. In addition, 
Bill, who was ambidextrous, amazed his students by his ability to write 
on the blackboard right-handed and then switch the chalk to his left 
hand in order to continue writing without blocking the students' view. 
He received the ``Mobil Best Teacher of the Year'' award at Purdue 2 
years running and then served on the selection committee.
  Bill loved Purdue football and was a long-suffering Boston Red Sox 
fan. When he was a youngster in Boston, he would travel by trolley car 
to attend games at Fenway Park for 25 cents. He recalled meeting famed 
Red Sox hurler Cy Young at Fenway and, with his father, meeting Hall of 
Famer Bobby Doerr when Doerr first came to the Red Sox in 1940. Bill 
watched every Red Sox game on television from his home in Albuquerque 
and was thrilled when the team won the 2004 World Series, their first 
time to do so in 86 years. When Bill passed away, he was wearing his 
Boston Red Sox wrist watch that he proudly wore for many years; he then 
fell asleep on the same pillow he had used 60 years before at West 
Point.
  Mr. Speaker, William Collins will be greatly missed by his family and 
many friends. I ask all my colleagues to join me in honoring the life 
of this fine American.

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