James Eugene Collier
James Eugene Collier, 82, of Marble Falls died Jan. 12, 2012. He was born in St. Louis on June 29, 1929, to Floyd and Juanita Collier.
Most of his childhood was spent in Van Buren, Ark., with his brothers and sister.
He graduated from Arkansas Tech in Russelville, Ark., in 1951 with a math degree. While at school, he played basketball with the AIC Wonder Boys and met his wife, Janiece McGraw Collier, at auditions for the a cappella choir. They married in 1952.
After serving in the Air Force in the Korean War, he attended the University of Texas at Austin and received a degree in architectural engineering in 1956. He worked for the United States Bureau of Reclamation in Austin until 1963, and then transferred to U.S. Housing and Urban Development in Fort Worth. He retired in 1980 and started Collier Cabinets, developing his woodworking talents. He built the couple’s “lake house” in Marble Falls, and they moved there in 1986.
Family, music and woodworking were his greatest joys. He sang in a men’s quartet at Arkansas Tech, with the Austinaires in Austin and most recently with the Saints Alive in Marble Falls. He was the first director of the Austin Chord Rangers, a barbershop chorus in Austin; then choir director at Asbury United Methodist Church in Austin, as well as St. Paul Methodist Church in Hurst.
Building furniture, turning bowls on his wood lathe and gardening were his hobbies while living in Marble Falls.
In addition to his wife of 59 years, survivors include daughters Susan Hanson and husband Steven of Austin and Sara Yarbrough and husband Chris of Chicago; grandsons Matthew and Jacob Hanson of Austin and Corey Yarbrough of Chicago; granddaughters Kalli Rose Hanson of Austin and Ashley Yarbrough of Chicago; brother Neil Collier and wife Betty Sue of Temple; sister Sherry Lange and husband Tony of Garland; and two foreign exchange student “daughters” Gina Schmerder of Kiel, Germany, and Franca Christal of Bamburg, Germany.
A memorial service is 3 p.m. Jan. 21 at First United Methodist Church in Marble Falls with the reverends Ellen Ely and Cleon Flanagan officiating.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Rex and Loraine Jackson Scholarship Fund at First United Methodist Church, 1101 Bluebonnet Drive, Marble Falls, TX 78654, or Hugworks — an organization that develops innovative ways to address the special needs of children through live therapeutic music — 752 Mary Drive, Hurst, TX 76053.
Condolences can be offered at www.clementswilcoxfuneralhome.com.
Arrangements by Clements-Wilcox Funeral Home, 1805 U.S. 281 in Marble Falls, (830) 693-4373.