John Michael (Mike) Collins (Floydada)

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John Michael (Mike) Collins, age 68, passed to the next life, Thursday, June 17, 2021.  A graveside service took place at 10:00 a.m., Monday, June 21, 2021 at the Floyd County Memorial Park with Eric Earhart officiating.  Arrangements are under the personal care of Moore-Rose Funeral Home in Floydada.

Mike was born in Canyon, Texas, on November 6, 1952 to John (Johnnie) Charles Collins and Marjorie Ann Grimes Collins.  From a young age, Mike exhibited an interest for mechanical items.  By age 12, he had overhauled his first tractor at the family business, Collins Implement.  This was the beginning of a life long love of motors and fast cars.  At the time of his death, he was restoring a 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner, the same model he had owned in college.

Mike was a 1971 graduate of Floydada High School and a 1975 graduate of Texas Tech University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

He and Lu Ann Lovell were married in Floydada on August 14, 1976.  Their first home was in Woodward, Oklahoma, where he was employed by Otis Engineering.  After the sudden death of his father, Mike returned briefly to the family business.  Later, he opened his own business, Collins Appliance.

He moved his family to Monahans, Texas, in 1987, and returned to college at UT Permian Basin in Odessa, earning a degree in Computer Science.  His first programming job was with Campus America in Roswell, New Mexico.

In 1993, they returned to Texas where he began a 20 year career at Texas Tech Health Science Center as a programmer and later a systems analyst.  Mike had the gift of problem-solving/troubleshooting.  He retired in 2013 and continued travelling with Lu Ann on the Goldwing.  Their longest trip was over 7000 miles.  Many trips were shared with their Saskatchewan, Canada, friends, Kevin and Connie Thomas.

Mike was preceded in death by his parents.

Those left to cherish Mike’s memory are his wife, Lu Ann; his two sons, John Steele Collins of Lubbock and James Lindsay Collins of Floydada; one informally adopted son, Christopher Neal (Anna) of Palestine, Texas; a sister, Cathy Kubacak of Lubbock; three nephews, Anthony, Jason, and Matthew Kubacak.

The family has designated memorial contributions in Mike’s memory to the Floydada Senior Citizens.

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