The Meade County Messenger

DON COLLINS

Don Collins, 55, a Meade County native whose 30-year journalism career took him from Western Kentucky’s student newspaper, the College Heights Herald, to USA TODAY, died at his home in Herndon, Va., late Sunday night, June 13, after a long battle with cancer.

Collins was a member of the founding staff of USA TODAY, and spent nearly a quarter-century with what now is the nation’s largest-circulation daily paper. His pride in that job was spelled out on his personalized Virginia license plates: USAT-SPT.

He retired in 2007.

Throughout a life that began in rural Kentucky and reached to Mississippi, Arkansas and ultimately the area of the nation’s capital, where USA TODAY is headquartered, Mr. Collins wore all of his passions on his sleeve – for college basketball’s Kentucky Wildcats, whom he adopted at an early age; for Western Kentucky, where he earned a journalism degree in 1976; for baseball’s St. Louis Cardinals, whom he cheered through eight National League pennants and four World Series championships; for his wife of more than 18 years, Cheryl, and particularly in later years for the Southview Baptist Church in Herndon and his church family there.

He also was an avid softball player.

A graduate of Meade County High School, he launched his career as a reporter and editor at Western Kentucky – where he said he “learned to be a journalist” – and a scholarship in his name has been established at the university for fulltime students who work for the Herald.
A memorial service was held June 18, at the Southview Baptist Church, where Collins served as the chairman of deacons and for the past three years as assistant to the pastor. A memorial service will be scheduled in Brandenburg at a later date.

He was preceded in death by his father, Cleo Collins.

Mr. Collins is survived by his wife, Cheryl; his mother, Mary Collins, Brandenburg; a sister, Beverly Engle, Brandenburg; a brother, David Collins, Indianapolis; several nieces and nephews; Jessica and Tyler Burnett, Geoffrey, Christopher, Matthew and Emily Evans; a great-niece, Elisia Burnett; father- and-mother-in-law, Billy and Kittye Jo Evans, Fordyce, Ark., and brother-in-law, Curtis (Melissa) Evans, North Muskegon, Mich.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made pto the Meade County Food Pantry, 2320 Bypass Rd., Brandenburg KY., 40108; Bethel United Methodist Church Youth Group, 120 Bethel Church Road, Brandenburg, KY., 40108-9521; or to the Don Collins Journalism Scholarship at Western Kentucky University (http://www.wku.edu) College Heights Foundation (designate Don Collins Journalism Scholarship on the memo line), c/o Leslie Watkins, Senior Director of Development, Wetherby Administration Building, 119, WKU, 1906 College Heights Boulevard. #11005, Bowling Green, KY., 42101-1005. 1-tpd.

| This Weeks Obituaries | Obituary Archives |