Margaret Binkley Collins

1915 - 2002

Margaret Binkley Collins died Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2002, at her home of complications resulting from replacement hip surgery.

Memorial service: 2 p.m. Thursday at First United Methodist Church in Sherman, the Rev. James E. Pledger officiating. The family will receive friends in Binkley Hall at the church after the service. Private burial: 1 p.m. Thursday in West Hill Cemetery in Sherman, her native home. Visitation: 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Thompson's Harveson & Cole Funeral Home.

Memorials: Memorials may be made to the Margaret Binkley Collins Memorial Scholarship at Austin College, 900 N. Grand Ave., Sherman, Texas 75090.

Mrs. Collins was born July 22, 1915, in Chicago, the only child of James Malcolm and Clara Zauk Binkley. She was the granddaughter of the Rev. Jacob Monroe Binkley, founder and first pastor of First United Methodist Church in Sherman, and the grandniece of Judge Christopher Columbus Binkley, founder and first president of the Merchants and Planters Bank in Sherman, once the largest in Texas.

In 1918 she moved with her parents to Sherman, where she graduated from high school in 1932. She immediately entered Austin College, completing her freshman and sophomore years before transferring to the University of Texas at Austin where she earned her B.A. degree in 1936. At Austin College she was a founder and the first president of Alpha Delta Chi sorority, which was the first social sorority on the campus and which is still active. For many years, pledges were required to write her, and she responded to every letter, establishing many lifelong friendships. At the University of Texas she was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority, and in 1985 was honored as a 50-year member, with many lifelong friendships.

After graduating from college she worked in Austin for the Texas Employment Commission. During World War II she worked for the Grayson County Ration Board; in Fort Worth as secretary for the manager of General Electric Co.'s heaving equipment office; and in Pocatello, Idaho, for the Naval Ordnance Depot. In 1945 she became the USO program director in Greenville, which required orientation at Columbia University in New York City. While there she was selected "Queen for a Day" on the popular national radio. She was also a USO director in San Antonio, serving there until World War II ended, after which she was employed as a placement specialist with Cloud Employment Agency in Dallas.

On Sept. 13, 1947, she married William W. Collins Jr., a Grayson County native, moving to Fort Worth. She remained in Fort Worth for the rest of her life, rearing a family, while actively participating in many activities, such as those associated with school organizations, church groups, Rotary Club Wives, the Fort Worth Woman's Club, Colonial Country Club, the Fort Worth Petroleum Club and the Tanglewood Garden Club.

She and her husband established a reputation of being a team. They were both members of the Grayson County Historical Commission, the Kidd-Key Auditorium Restoration Committee in Sherman and the Sherman High School Ex-Students Association. They were life members of the University of North Texas President's Council and the Red River Historical Museum, as well as members of the Stephen F. Austin Society and the Emily Austin Society of Austin College. In 1996 they received the prestigious Angus Wynne Award at Austin College, and in 2002 they were honored by the Sherman Business and Professional Woman's Club for outstanding community service. They were curators for the Museum of American Victorian Furniture, an educational project of the Collins-Binkley Foundation, of which she was vice president and secretary.

They established the Will and Grace Collins Memorial Fund for special projects in the city of Howe and in 2002 donated land for the new Binkley Park Drive in Sherman. In 1979 they funded construction of the Zauk Circle Drive with the sculpture "Quest" at Austin College, the Austin College Honors Court and the Zauk Parking Lot. In 2000 the Margaret Binkley Collins Fountain was added to the Honors Court in recognition of her long association with Austin College and her outstanding support for the school. In addition to serving as the first president of Alpha Delta Chi Sorority, she served on the board of directors and as national president of the Austin College Alumni Association. In 1980 she was named "Outstanding Alumna" by the organization. They provided financial assistance for the construction of the James and Clara Binkley Youth Center at First United Methodist Church in Sherman. She donated her family home in Sherman to Austin College and was a member of the Austin College Covenant Society.

She and her husband have established scholarships at Austin College, the University of North Texas and Southern Methodist University. A new one, the Margaret Binkley Collins Memorial Scholarship, is being established in her memory at Austin College.

Survivors: Husband, William W. Collins Jr.; daughter and son-in-law, Ann and Charles Florsheim; son and daughter-in-law, William W. III and Susan Collins; and grandchildren, Charles Collins Florsheim, Claire Elizabeth Florsheim, Richard William Collins and Catherine D'Arey Collins, all of Fort Worth.