Gary Neal Collins

Graveside services for Gary Neal Collins, 66, Dora, Missouri, will be held at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, November 7, 2020 at Ball Cemetery, under the direction of Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.

Mr. Collins passed away at 9:21 p.m., Monday, October 26, 2020, at his home.

He was born February 5, 1954, at West Plains, Missouri, to Walter Neal Collins and Juanita Wanda Hambelton Collins.  On April 20, 1973 he was married at Gainesville, Missouri to Connie Lynn Smith. After graduating from Dora High School in 1972 Gary attended Auto Mechanics Technical School in Springfield, Missouri. After completing that training he worked as a heavy equipment mechanic and later in Chevrolet Dealerships. In 1981, he moved his family to Kingfisher, Oklahoma to get rich in the oil fields. It didn’t take him long to decide that money wasn’t everything, so he packed the family back up and returned to the hills and hollars of Dora. He was a long time employee at Stewart’s Construction in West Plains, Missouri and had been a farmer his whole life and enjoyed his farm, camping, fishing and spending time with his family and friends.

He is survived by his wife of forty-seven years, Connie Collins; one daughter, Tracy Lovan and husband, Kelly, Pottersville, Missouri; one son, Matthew Collins, Dora, Missouri; five grandchildren, Kendall, Connor and Raylee Lovan and Mason and Clayton Collins; one brother, Bradley Collins, and wife, Mary Dora, Missouri; his sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law, Maggie and Gene Newton, Shirley Hambelton, Joel and Lynda Smith and Sharon and Don Wilson; and several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, one brother, Timothy Collins and one grandson, Brayden Collins.

Visitation services will be from 5:00 until 7:00 p.m., Friday, November 6, at the Langston Street Chapel of Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.  Memorial Contributions may be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, Children’s  Miracle Network, Ronald McDonald House or Ball Cemetery and may be left at or mailed to Robertson-Drago Funeral Home, 211 West Main, West Plains, MO  65775.