Mr. George William Collins

George W. Collins, Fulbright Scholar in Afghanistan, retired Wichita State University and Air Force Academy Professor, passed away Feb. 24, 2010, from complications following a fall in September. Husband of the late Kathryn (Kay) Swistowicz, father of Kathleen (James) Beyer of Westborough, Massachusetts, and of Patricia Collins of Kansas City, grandfather of Marta and the late Colin Beyer and of Rachel and the late Bryson Thompson. Also survived by a brother Harry (Mary) Collins of Tinley Park, Chicago, and by a sister Elaine Guerard of St. Petersburg, Florida. Mr. Collins, an active resident of Aberdeen Village in Olathe, was the son of Michael Collins and Helen Baund. He had a distinguished career as a teacher and Air Force officer. He was born in Chicago and entered the Army Air Corps in 1942 and owed all his higher education to the U. S. government. He attended Fenn College as an aviation cadet and received his B.S. at Northwestern University in 1949 and his M.A. in 1950. He had previously worked as a salesman for Brunswick, where he met Kathryn, his wife of 61 years, who passed away in 2005. He taught history at Galesburg High School in Illinois in 1951-52. Trained as a navigator at Hondo Air Base in Texas during World War II, he was recalled to service during the Korean War and flew 4000 hours in B-29, KC-97, and T-29 aircraft. He was in the 19th Bomb Group of the 28th Bomb Squadron. Mr. Collins was then appointed to teach Navigation at the Air Force Academy when it opened at Lowry AFB, Colorado, in 1958. By 1968, when he left the Academy, which was now located in Colorado Springs, he was a professor of History, having completed his Ph.D. at the University of Colorado. His dissertation was on U.S.-Moroccan relations, one of several topics on which he published scholarly articles. He presented papers at numerous academic conferences, including the Wilton Park Conference in West Sussex, England, and an Afghan conference at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. He served briefly in Vietnam in 1967, heading a USAF team evaluating close air support. After retiring from the Air Force in 1968 as a Lieutenant Colonel, he became an Associate Professor of History at Wichita State University. He took a three-year leave to teach diplomatic and military history at the Air War College in Montgomery, Alabama, and he did research for the Department of Defense in Washington, D.C. In 1975-77, he was a Senior Fulbright Scholar at the University of Kabul. In the last golden time before the Soviet invasion of 1978, he and his wife Kathryn traveled widely in Afghanistan, a country they loved for its physical beauty and welcoming people. In retirement he continued his scholarly research and pursued his lifelong interest in golf, bridge, classic films, and model railroads. He was always a devoted support to his family and friends. Mr. Collins was a longtime, faithful member of Holy Savior Church in Wichita. A Mass of Christian Burial will take place Tuesday at 11 a.m. at Visitation Church, 5141 Main St., with private interment at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery. A memorial service will be held at Aberdeen Village, 17500 W. 119th St., Olathe, KS, on Thursday at 1:00. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the American Red Cross.

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