Services for John Galen Collins will be at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009, at Cedar Hill Cemetery with Dr. John McCall and the Rev. Cary Stockett officiating. The family will receive visitors at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009, at the Collins home, 2119 Cherry St. in Vicksburg.

Mr. Collins died Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009, at Promise Rehab. He was 74.

An honors graduate of Oregon State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in forestry engineering, he was employed during the summers while in school by the California Division of Forestry in Paradise, Cohassett and Oroville and by the Pacific Northwest Forestry and Range Experiment Station in Portland, Ore. Upon completion of his undergraduate work, he was employed by the Tygh Valley Lumber Company in Tygh Valley, Ore.

He later enlisted in the United States Army and was assigned in 1958 to the Soils Division at Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg, where he remained after being released from active duty in 1960. Twice during his career with WES he attended graduate school at Oregon State University and completed a master’s degree in soil mechanics and pursued further advanced studies in hydrology.

After 32 years of federal service, he retired in 1990 as a research engineer with the Environmental Constraints Group of the WES Environmental Laboratory. John developed hydrology models using remote sensing data to estimate rainfall for river basins. This work greatly helped in developing and improving flood area mapping throughout the world.

Mr. Collins was born March 2, 1935, to the late Ruth Prichard Collins and William Standen Collins. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a sister, Ruth Elizabeth Collins; two brothers, Benjamin Berquin Collins and Standen Prichard Collins; and a grandson, Samuel Galen Collins.

Survivors include his wife of 49 years, Anita Sheffield Collins; son, Standen Sheffield Collins and wife Leisa Collins; son, William Gault Collins of Clinton; two grandsons, Michael Galen Collins and John Michael Collins; three sisters, Grace Esther Collins of Paradise, Calif., Charlotte Louise Dyke of Salem, Ore., and Miriam Estelle Spare of Concord, Calif.; daughter-in-law, Sandra Green Crist of Clinton; sister-in-law, Linda Marie Sheffield; nieces, Kathleen Anderson, Beckie Canterberry, Kariann Collins, Alta Collins, Ruth Hillemeyer and Marian King; and nephews, Stephen Collins, Bill Dyke and John Spare.

His memberships included the Vicksburg Theatre Guild, New Stage Theatre, International Ballet Association, Vicksburg Art Association, Southern Cultural Heritage Center, Sigma Xi Society and Mensa International. He was a past president of the Vicksburg Optimist Club and was a member of the First Baptist Church.

Pallbearers will be Stan Collins, Bill Collins, Michael Collins, Stephen Collins, Lawrence Bodron, Allan N. Leese, Roger Hopkins, Wes Lominick and Don Milner.

Honorary pallbearers will be Malcolm Anderson, Paul E.N. Barrett, Bill Buckner, Don Day, Sam Derby, Tom Engdahl, Mark Jourdan, Ed Lawler, Mac Holtie, Jimmy Stabler, Charlie Stevens, Jack Stoll, D.P. Waring, Wade West, Dr. Paul W. Pierce III, Dr. Paul W. Pierce IV, Dr. Michael L. Davis, Dr. Eugene Ferris and Dr. Susan A. Chiarito.

Memorials may be sent to a favorite charity or to one of the following: the Palmer Home for Children, P.O. Box 746, Columbus, MS 39703-9983 or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105-9959.

Glenwood Funeral Home has charge of arrangements.