Raymond Collins
May 2, 1936 -
Apr 30, 2020
Raymond "Ray" Lewis Collins Jr., age 83, passed away peacefully surrounded by family at the home of his daughter in Anchorage, Alaska, on April 30, 2020. Ray was born to Raymond Lewis Collins Sr. and Myrtle Anna Frieda (Dittman) Collins on May 2, 1936, in Shelton, Wash.
Ray was a man of God and known for his wisdom. His service in the U.S. Army from November 1955 to October 1958 included a stint in Anchorage, where he was assigned to surveying the poles and telephone lines along the Alcan Highway.
He became a follower of Jesus Christ while attending a youth group meeting at Central Lutheran Church in Anchorage which set the course of his life. Upon ending his tour of duty, he went to the Lutheran Bible Institute in Seattle, Wash., where he met his bride, Sally Jo Bonnett, a fellow student, and they were married on June 6, 1959. Together they decided to join the Wycliffe Bible Translators/Summer Institute of Linguistics upon graduation and accepted an assignment to translate the Bible into the Upper Kuskokwim Athabascan language. This assignment required specialized training in linguistics in Oklahoma, a jungle survival training camp in southern Mexico and a brief internship with another Wycliffe couple in Arctic Village, Alaska, in the spring of 1963 prior to moving to Nikolai, Alaska.
In 1971, Ray moved his family to McGrath, Alaska, for access to high school for their children. Ray continued his work in Nikolai by helping to build the State funded, bilingual education program, including a dictionary and reading primers with the assistance of three local leaders. In 2000, Ray and Sally Jo published "Dichinanek' Hwt'ana: A History of the People of the Upper Kuskokwim Who Live in Nikolai and Telida, Alaska" for the Denali National Park and Preserve. In 2010, Ray and Sally Jo were formally inducted into the Nikolai Edzeno' Tribe as recognition of their years of service.
Ray was a founding member, pastor and helped design and build the McGrath Community Church, where he continued serving as a fill-in pastor to the date of his death. Over the years, Ray officiated at many weddings and funerals for community members of McGrath, Nikolai and Telida.
His interest in education and community service continued over the years as he served for over 40 years on the Board of the Iditarod Area School District and worked as coordinator of the McGrath Center of the University of Alaska - where he taught anthropology and linguistics to students all over the state. He was a member of the Alaska Humanities Forum, State Bilingual/Bicultural Advisory committee and helped the villages of Nikolai and Telida in filing for Native claims and allotments as well as served on the McGrath Planning Commission for the City of McGrath.
More recently, he served on many state and federal fish and wildlife committees for the Western Region, and Upper Kuskokwim up through the date of his death - providing specialized knowledge of the traditional subsistence lifestyle and uses of various areas by the Upper Kuskokwim Athabascan people.
He is survived by his wife, Sally Jo (Bonnett) Collins of McGrath; daughter, Christine (Bill) Barrington of Anchorage; sons, Joel Collins of McGrath and Nathan (Terri Gabbert) Collins of Anchorage; his sister, Sandra McCord and brother, Gary Collins, both of Surprise, Ariz.; his grandchildren, Hope (Gus Strick) Collins, Jacob Collins, William (Audrey Starbird) Barrington, Nickalaus Collins and Raymond Barrington; his great-grandchildren, Grace Strick, Rally Strick, Alaric Barrington, Kenzie Strick and Warren Barrington; and many nieces and nephews and their families. He was preceded in death by his parents, Ray and Myrtle Collins.
A memorial service in Anchorage and funeral service in McGrath will be held at a later date when COVID-19 travel restrictions are lifted. Cards can be sent to: Sally Jo Collins, Box 75, McGrath, AK 99627.
