Sam Collier (August 19, 1941 - August 24, 2022)
Samuel Melvin (Sam) Collier, 81, Major, U.S. Army Retired, passed peacefully and unexpectedly at his home in Vivian, Louisiana, on Wednesday, August 24, 2022, with his dear wife Debi at his side.
Our country is in mourning; a veteran has died.
Sam was born in Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday, August 19, 1941. After the beginning of World War II, the family moved to Alliance, Ohio -- where his father was a welder at an aircraft manufacturing plant. In 1944, they moved to Vivian, Louisiana, to be near members of his father's family.
Sam obtained his primary and secondary education in Vivian, Louisiana. Upon graduation from high school in 1959, he enlisted in the Army, becoming a radar and computer operator/section chief in Nike Hercules Surface-to-Air Missile firing batteries. In 1964, he was selected to attend the Field Artillery Officers Candidate School, graduating with a commission as an artillery 2nd Lieutenant, U.S. Army Reserve. Sam received a Regular Army Commission in 1968. He completed a successful 21-year military career in 1979, retiring as an Air Defense Artillery Major.
While in the Army, he earned his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics/Physics/Biology at University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP) and a Master's in Business Administration (Management Science) focused on operations research systems analysis and management, at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado. He lived in Germany, Italy, Viet Nam, and Korea, and in the states of California, Texas, Colorado, South Carolina, and Louisiana. During business and personal travels, he visited most of the other states, Mexico, and most of Western Europe and Japan.
He held a Department of Defense Top Secret security clearance for more than 35 years, twelve of which dealt with Special Compartmented Intelligence (SCI). During that period, he worked nuclear weapons security, surety, emergency message authentication procedures, and targeting analysis. He also worked special access required, compartmented, "black world" intelligence, and stealth missile and aircraft research and development programs.
He was a missile battery commander in Italy and California, and an artillery battery commander in Viet Nam. He had seven years General's Staff experience including that as an instructor in the High-Altitude Missile department of the Army's Air Defense School, and as an operations and intelligence officer in commands in Korea, and Colorado. Sam was a foreign nation missile event technical intelligence analyst in NORAD's Cheyenne Mountain Combat Operations Center near Colorado Springs from 1975 through 1978. He developed analyses and briefings in his work with national intelligence agencies on the Soviet and Chinese ICBM and SLBM threats to North America. In 1977, he authored the first user's handbook for the Soviet Space Order of Battle in the Defense Intelligence Agency's delegated order of battle production system.
In 1979, he was employed by LTV Aerospace and Defense, a defense contracting firm in Dallas, as a Lead Operations Research Engineer in their System Engineering organization. He led the Operations Analysis team on the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missile design competition won by the company. He managed "black" R&D programs investigating the application of stealth technologies on advanced programs aircraft. He retired in 1995 as an Operations Research Senior Staff Engineer and Advanced Development Programs Concepts R&D Program Manager; by then, the company had become part of Northrop Grumman and later become Vought Aircraft Division of Triumph Aerostructures. His company produced 30% of the B2 stealth bombers.
Sam then became active in community affairs serving as a grants panelist, and authoring winning grants for small nonprofit organizations. He was Vice President one year and President for six years of the local historical society. He researched, authored, and in 1998 self-published, "Terrapin Neck, Frog Level, Horseshoe", a 125-page book, and the first one published on the history on northern Caddo Parish. In 2007, he authored "North Caddo Parish" a captioned pictorial history book focusing on the cited area. In that same year, he completed a heritage assets survey for north Caddo Parish for the Caddo Lake Heritage Awareness and Education Program, a Louisiana-Texas funded activity. Working with the Collins Academy and Education Center in Jefferson, Texas, Sam became the Manager in 2010 of a provisional Caddo Lake National Heritage Area program, using those results and working with the National Park Service to get congressional recognition of the bi-state heritage area.
In 1999, he was asked to return to a division of his former company, by then known as Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control (LMMFC), to work on a guided variant of the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), a surface-to surface guided missile under development at the time. There, he completed a study that developed the mathematics and the inferential statistical analysis techniques used to produce highly reliable test program results while reducing the number of missile flight tests. Sam returned to retirement on March 31, 2000. At LTV Aerospace and LMMFC, he worked in Operations Analysis and System Engineering. Defense programs that Sam worked on included the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS), and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). Sam, always smiling and soft-hearted, was also a man of high intelligence and many talents. After leaving the company, Sam also managed the Pelican Lodge in Louisiana, taught high school in East Texas, and performed consulting work for non-profit organizations and universities.
In 2002, Sam was recruited by Black Ram Engineering, a system engineering consulting firm in Seattle, Washington, to perform technical services for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth, Texas, supporting the development and demonstration of the stealthy F/A-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Sam developed the master analytical tasks and risk management tasks and schedules for the air system analysis organization for the 12-year program, and coordinated the implementation and compliance with those schedules. Sam retired in 2004 after a successful and rewarding 37-year career in the aerospace and defense industry.
For 50 years, Sam enjoyed restoring and driving high interest vehicles -- a 1967 Corvette, a 1957 Chevrolet Apache, 2 1931 Model A Fords, 2 Mustangs, and a 1972 F100.
Beginning in 1961, he chronicled his family using photography, and his ancestry with almost 3,000 names currently in his family tree.
He was an archery enthusiast for over 50 years, and hunted with the bow until the 1980s, taking deer, squirrels, and various varmints.
He enjoyed fine dining and cooking both at the grill and barbeque pit, as well as at the indoor stove.
He was among the first in about 1980 to adopt the Personal Computer (PC), moving from being a main frame programmer of some 15 years at the time.
He was a Biographee in Marquis' Who's Who publications: Science and Engineering, each year 2001 through 2008; South and Southwest, 1999/2000; Finance and Industry 2000; America, 2000/1/8/13/14; World, 2000/9. In 2004 he was selected by the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England to be included in their Leading Scientists of the World – 2005 reference book that recognizes individuals that have fulfilled a standard of merit and excellence beyond the norm and represents enough contribution in their field to engender influence on a local, national, or international basis. Sam was a life member of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), the UTEP Alumni Association, and the Vought Retiree Club.
Sam is survived by his wife Deborah Ann (Debi) Collier of Vivian, daughters -- Sheri Le Andow of Austin, Texas, Suzan Mari Ranew, Donica Lynn Collier, and Michele Daniella Norrid of Irving, Texas; his son Samuel Richard Collier of Pierre, South Dakota; his bonus children -- Becky Linton Sanders, Angela Fredrick (Daniel), Paul Howard, Eric McMartin and Jackson McMartin; his brothers -- Michael Glen Collier of Liberty, Texas, Billy Charles Collier of New Waverly, Texas; and 15 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.
Sam was preceded in death by his father Samuel Roland Collier, his mother Dixie Pauline Sorrells Collier Terry, his sister Brenda Sue Collier Webb, his brother Wayne Roland Collier, and his daughter Phyliss Ann Kennedy.
A graveside service will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, September 2, 2022, at the Northwest Louisiana Veterans Cemetery 7970 Mike Clark Road, Keithville, Louisiana 71047 (phone 318-925-0612), officiated by Barry Headrick.
There will be a time of visitation on Thursday, September 1, 2022, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Gorsulowsky Funeral Home (https://www.vivianfuneralhome.com), 1107 S. Pine Street, Vivian, Louisiana 71082 (phone 318-375-3339).
- based on information from the obituary on the website of Gorsulowsky Funeral Home, from the family of Sam Collier, and from friend and co-worker Bob Bardo.
Samuel Melvin (Sam) Collier, 81, Major, U.S. Army Retired, passed peacefully and unexpectedly at his home in Vivian, Louisiana, on Wednesday, August 24, 2022, with his dear wife Debi at his side.
Our country is in mourning; a veteran has died.
Sam was born in Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday, August 19, 1941. After the beginning of World War II, the family moved to Alliance, Ohio -- where his father was a welder at an aircraft manufacturing plant. In 1944, they moved to Vivian, Louisiana, to be near members of his father's family.
Sam obtained his primary and secondary education in Vivian, Louisiana. Upon graduation from high school in 1959, he enlisted in the Army, becoming a radar and computer operator/section chief in Nike Hercules Surface-to-Air Missile firing batteries. In 1964, he was selected to attend the Field Artillery Officers Candidate School, graduating with a commission as an artillery 2nd Lieutenant, U.S. Army Reserve. Sam received a Regular Army Commission in 1968. He completed a successful 21-year military career in 1979, retiring as an Air Defense Artillery Major.
While in the Army, he earned his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics/Physics/Biology at University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP) and a Master's in Business Administration (Management Science) focused on operations research systems analysis and management, at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado. He lived in Germany, Italy, Viet Nam, and Korea, and in the states of California, Texas, Colorado, South Carolina, and Louisiana. During business and personal travels, he visited most of the other states, Mexico, and most of Western Europe and Japan.
He held a Department of Defense Top Secret security clearance for more than 35 years, twelve of which dealt with Special Compartmented Intelligence (SCI). During that period, he worked nuclear weapons security, surety, emergency message authentication procedures, and targeting analysis. He also worked special access required, compartmented, "black world" intelligence, and stealth missile and aircraft research and development programs.
He was a missile battery commander in Italy and California, and an artillery battery commander in Viet Nam. He had seven years General's Staff experience including that as an instructor in the High-Altitude Missile department of the Army's Air Defense School, and as an operations and intelligence officer in commands in Korea, and Colorado. Sam was a foreign nation missile event technical intelligence analyst in NORAD's Cheyenne Mountain Combat Operations Center near Colorado Springs from 1975 through 1978. He developed analyses and briefings in his work with national intelligence agencies on the Soviet and Chinese ICBM and SLBM threats to North America. In 1977, he authored the first user's handbook for the Soviet Space Order of Battle in the Defense Intelligence Agency's delegated order of battle production system.
In 1979, he was employed by LTV Aerospace and Defense, a defense contracting firm in Dallas, as a Lead Operations Research Engineer in their System Engineering organization. He led the Operations Analysis team on the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missile design competition won by the company. He managed "black" R&D programs investigating the application of stealth technologies on advanced programs aircraft. He retired in 1995 as an Operations Research Senior Staff Engineer and Advanced Development Programs Concepts R&D Program Manager; by then, the company had become part of Northrop Grumman and later become Vought Aircraft Division of Triumph Aerostructures. His company produced 30% of the B2 stealth bombers.
Sam then became active in community affairs serving as a grants panelist, and authoring winning grants for small nonprofit organizations. He was Vice President one year and President for six years of the local historical society. He researched, authored, and in 1998 self-published, "Terrapin Neck, Frog Level, Horseshoe", a 125-page book, and the first one published on the history on northern Caddo Parish. In 2007, he authored "North Caddo Parish" a captioned pictorial history book focusing on the cited area. In that same year, he completed a heritage assets survey for north Caddo Parish for the Caddo Lake Heritage Awareness and Education Program, a Louisiana-Texas funded activity. Working with the Collins Academy and Education Center in Jefferson, Texas, Sam became the Manager in 2010 of a provisional Caddo Lake National Heritage Area program, using those results and working with the National Park Service to get congressional recognition of the bi-state heritage area.
In 1999, he was asked to return to a division of his former company, by then known as Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control (LMMFC), to work on a guided variant of the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), a surface-to surface guided missile under development at the time. There, he completed a study that developed the mathematics and the inferential statistical analysis techniques used to produce highly reliable test program results while reducing the number of missile flight tests. Sam returned to retirement on March 31, 2000. At LTV Aerospace and LMMFC, he worked in Operations Analysis and System Engineering. Defense programs that Sam worked on included the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS), and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). Sam, always smiling and soft-hearted, was also a man of high intelligence and many talents. After leaving the company, Sam also managed the Pelican Lodge in Louisiana, taught high school in East Texas, and performed consulting work for non-profit organizations and universities.
In 2002, Sam was recruited by Black Ram Engineering, a system engineering consulting firm in Seattle, Washington, to perform technical services for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth, Texas, supporting the development and demonstration of the stealthy F/A-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Sam developed the master analytical tasks and risk management tasks and schedules for the air system analysis organization for the 12-year program, and coordinated the implementation and compliance with those schedules. Sam retired in 2004 after a successful and rewarding 37-year career in the aerospace and defense industry.
For 50 years, Sam enjoyed restoring and driving high interest vehicles -- a 1967 Corvette, a 1957 Chevrolet Apache, 2 1931 Model A Fords, 2 Mustangs, and a 1972 F100.
Beginning in 1961, he chronicled his family using photography, and his ancestry with almost 3,000 names currently in his family tree.
He was an archery enthusiast for over 50 years, and hunted with the bow until the 1980s, taking deer, squirrels, and various varmints.
He enjoyed fine dining and cooking both at the grill and barbeque pit, as well as at the indoor stove.
He was among the first in about 1980 to adopt the Personal Computer (PC), moving from being a main frame programmer of some 15 years at the time.
He was a Biographee in Marquis' Who's Who publications: Science and Engineering, each year 2001 through 2008; South and Southwest, 1999/2000; Finance and Industry 2000; America, 2000/1/8/13/14; World, 2000/9. In 2004 he was selected by the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England to be included in their Leading Scientists of the World – 2005 reference book that recognizes individuals that have fulfilled a standard of merit and excellence beyond the norm and represents enough contribution in their field to engender influence on a local, national, or international basis. Sam was a life member of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), the UTEP Alumni Association, and the Vought Retiree Club.
Sam is survived by his wife Deborah Ann (Debi) Collier of Vivian, daughters -- Sheri Le Andow of Austin, Texas, Suzan Mari Ranew, Donica Lynn Collier, and Michele Daniella Norrid of Irving, Texas; his son Samuel Richard Collier of Pierre, South Dakota; his bonus children -- Becky Linton Sanders, Angela Fredrick (Daniel), Paul Howard, Eric McMartin and Jackson McMartin; his brothers -- Michael Glen Collier of Liberty, Texas, Billy Charles Collier of New Waverly, Texas; and 15 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.
Sam was preceded in death by his father Samuel Roland Collier, his mother Dixie Pauline Sorrells Collier Terry, his sister Brenda Sue Collier Webb, his brother Wayne Roland Collier, and his daughter Phyliss Ann Kennedy.
A graveside service will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, September 2, 2022, at the Northwest Louisiana Veterans Cemetery 7970 Mike Clark Road, Keithville, Louisiana 71047 (phone 318-925-0612), officiated by Barry Headrick.
There will be a time of visitation on Thursday, September 1, 2022, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Gorsulowsky Funeral Home (https://www.vivianfuneralhome.com), 1107 S. Pine Street, Vivian, Louisiana 71082 (phone 318-375-3339).
- based on information from the obituary on the website of Gorsulowsky Funeral Home, from the family of Sam Collier, and from friend and co-worker Bob Bardo.
Sam Collier (August 19, 1941 - August 24, 2022)
Samuel Melvin (Sam) Collier, 81, Major, U.S. Army Retired, passed peacefully and unexpectedly at his home in Vivian, Louisiana, on Wednesday, August 24, 2022, with his dear wife Debi at his side.
Our country is in mourning; a veteran has died.
Sam was born in Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday, August 19, 1941. After the beginning of World War II, the family moved to Alliance, Ohio -- where his father was a welder at an aircraft manufacturing plant. In 1944, they moved to Vivian, Louisiana, to be near members of his father's family.
Sam obtained his primary and secondary education in Vivian, Louisiana. Upon graduation from high school in 1959, he enlisted in the Army, becoming a radar and computer operator/section chief in Nike Hercules Surface-to-Air Missile firing batteries. In 1964, he was selected to attend the Field Artillery Officers Candidate School, graduating with a commission as an artillery 2nd Lieutenant, U.S. Army Reserve. Sam received a Regular Army Commission in 1968. He completed a successful 21-year military career in 1979, retiring as an Air Defense Artillery Major.
While in the Army, he earned his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics/Physics/Biology at University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP) and a Master's in Business Administration (Management Science) focused on operations research systems analysis and management, at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado. He lived in Germany, Italy, Viet Nam, and Korea, and in the states of California, Texas, Colorado, South Carolina, and Louisiana. During business and personal travels, he visited most of the other states, Mexico, and most of Western Europe and Japan.
He held a Department of Defense Top Secret security clearance for more than 35 years, twelve of which dealt with Special Compartmented Intelligence (SCI). During that period, he worked nuclear weapons security, surety, emergency message authentication procedures, and targeting analysis. He also worked special access required, compartmented, "black world" intelligence, and stealth missile and aircraft research and development programs.
He was a missile battery commander in Italy and California, and an artillery battery commander in Viet Nam. He had seven years General's Staff experience including that as an instructor in the High-Altitude Missile department of the Army's Air Defense School, and as an operations and intelligence officer in commands in Korea, and Colorado. Sam was a foreign nation missile event technical intelligence analyst in NORAD's Cheyenne Mountain Combat Operations Center near Colorado Springs from 1975 through 1978. He developed analyses and briefings in his work with national intelligence agencies on the Soviet and Chinese ICBM and SLBM threats to North America. In 1977, he authored the first user's handbook for the Soviet Space Order of Battle in the Defense Intelligence Agency's delegated order of battle production system.
In 1979, he was employed by LTV Aerospace and Defense, a defense contracting firm in Dallas, as a Lead Operations Research Engineer in their System Engineering organization. He led the Operations Analysis team on the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missile design competition won by the company. He managed "black" R&D programs investigating the application of stealth technologies on advanced programs aircraft. He retired in 1995 as an Operations Research Senior Staff Engineer and Advanced Development Programs Concepts R&D Program Manager; by then, the company had become part of Northrop Grumman and later become Vought Aircraft Division of Triumph Aerostructures. His company produced 30% of the B2 stealth bombers.
Sam then became active in community affairs serving as a grants panelist, and authoring winning grants for small nonprofit organizations. He was Vice President one year and President for six years of the local historical society. He researched, authored, and in 1998 self-published, "Terrapin Neck, Frog Level, Horseshoe", a 125-page book, and the first one published on the history on northern Caddo Parish. In 2007, he authored "North Caddo Parish" a captioned pictorial history book focusing on the cited area. In that same year, he completed a heritage assets survey for north Caddo Parish for the Caddo Lake Heritage Awareness and Education Program, a Louisiana-Texas funded activity. Working with the Collins Academy and Education Center in Jefferson, Texas, Sam became the Manager in 2010 of a provisional Caddo Lake National Heritage Area program, using those results and working with the National Park Service to get congressional recognition of the bi-state heritage area.
In 1999, he was asked to return to a division of his former company, by then known as Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control (LMMFC), to work on a guided variant of the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), a surface-to surface guided missile under development at the time. There, he completed a study that developed the mathematics and the inferential statistical analysis techniques used to produce highly reliable test program results while reducing the number of missile flight tests. Sam returned to retirement on March 31, 2000. At LTV Aerospace and LMMFC, he worked in Operations Analysis and System Engineering. Defense programs that Sam worked on included the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS), and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). Sam, always smiling and soft-hearted, was also a man of high intelligence and many talents. After leaving the company, Sam also managed the Pelican Lodge in Louisiana, taught high school in East Texas, and performed consulting work for non-profit organizations and universities.
In 2002, Sam was recruited by Black Ram Engineering, a system engineering consulting firm in Seattle, Washington, to perform technical services for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth, Texas, supporting the development and demonstration of the stealthy F/A-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Sam developed the master analytical tasks and risk management tasks and schedules for the air system analysis organization for the 12-year program, and coordinated the implementation and compliance with those schedules. Sam retired in 2004 after a successful and rewarding 37-year career in the aerospace and defense industry.
For 50 years, Sam enjoyed restoring and driving high interest vehicles -- a 1967 Corvette, a 1957 Chevrolet Apache, 2 1931 Model A Fords, 2 Mustangs, and a 1972 F100.
Beginning in 1961, he chronicled his family using photography, and his ancestry with almost 3,000 names currently in his family tree.
He was an archery enthusiast for over 50 years, and hunted with the bow until the 1980s, taking deer, squirrels, and various varmints.
He enjoyed fine dining and cooking both at the grill and barbeque pit, as well as at the indoor stove.
He was among the first in about 1980 to adopt the Personal Computer (PC), moving from being a main frame programmer of some 15 years at the time.
He was a Biographee in Marquis' Who's Who publications: Science and Engineering, each year 2001 through 2008; South and Southwest, 1999/2000; Finance and Industry 2000; America, 2000/1/8/13/14; World, 2000/9. In 2004 he was selected by the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England to be included in their Leading Scientists of the World – 2005 reference book that recognizes individuals that have fulfilled a standard of merit and excellence beyond the norm and represents enough contribution in their field to engender influence on a local, national, or international basis. Sam was a life member of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), the UTEP Alumni Association, and the Vought Retiree Club.
Sam is survived by his wife Deborah Ann (Debi) Collier of Vivian, daughters -- Sheri Le Andow of Austin, Texas, Suzan Mari Ranew, Donica Lynn Collier, and Michele Daniella Norrid of Irving, Texas; his son Samuel Richard Collier of Pierre, South Dakota; his bonus children -- Becky Linton Sanders, Angela Fredrick (Daniel), Paul Howard, Eric McMartin and Jackson McMartin; his brothers -- Michael Glen Collier of Liberty, Texas, Billy Charles Collier of New Waverly, Texas; and 15 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.
Sam was preceded in death by his father Samuel Roland Collier, his mother Dixie Pauline Sorrells Collier Terry, his sister Brenda Sue Collier Webb, his brother Wayne Roland Collier, and his daughter Phyliss Ann Kennedy.
A graveside service will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, September 2, 2022, at the Northwest Louisiana Veterans Cemetery 7970 Mike Clark Road, Keithville, Louisiana 71047 (phone 318-925-0612), officiated by Barry Headrick.
There will be a time of visitation on Thursday, September 1, 2022, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Gorsulowsky Funeral Home (https://www.vivianfuneralhome.com), 1107 S. Pine Street, Vivian, Louisiana 71082 (phone 318-375-3339).
- based on information from the obituary on the website of Gorsulowsky Funeral Home, from the family of Sam Collier, and from friend and co-worker Bob Bardo.
Samuel Melvin (Sam) Collier, 81, Major, U.S. Army Retired, passed peacefully and unexpectedly at his home in Vivian, Louisiana, on Wednesday, August 24, 2022, with his dear wife Debi at his side.
Our country is in mourning; a veteran has died.
Sam was born in Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday, August 19, 1941. After the beginning of World War II, the family moved to Alliance, Ohio -- where his father was a welder at an aircraft manufacturing plant. In 1944, they moved to Vivian, Louisiana, to be near members of his father's family.
Sam obtained his primary and secondary education in Vivian, Louisiana. Upon graduation from high school in 1959, he enlisted in the Army, becoming a radar and computer operator/section chief in Nike Hercules Surface-to-Air Missile firing batteries. In 1964, he was selected to attend the Field Artillery Officers Candidate School, graduating with a commission as an artillery 2nd Lieutenant, U.S. Army Reserve. Sam received a Regular Army Commission in 1968. He completed a successful 21-year military career in 1979, retiring as an Air Defense Artillery Major.
While in the Army, he earned his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics/Physics/Biology at University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP) and a Master's in Business Administration (Management Science) focused on operations research systems analysis and management, at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado. He lived in Germany, Italy, Viet Nam, and Korea, and in the states of California, Texas, Colorado, South Carolina, and Louisiana. During business and personal travels, he visited most of the other states, Mexico, and most of Western Europe and Japan.
He held a Department of Defense Top Secret security clearance for more than 35 years, twelve of which dealt with Special Compartmented Intelligence (SCI). During that period, he worked nuclear weapons security, surety, emergency message authentication procedures, and targeting analysis. He also worked special access required, compartmented, "black world" intelligence, and stealth missile and aircraft research and development programs.
He was a missile battery commander in Italy and California, and an artillery battery commander in Viet Nam. He had seven years General's Staff experience including that as an instructor in the High-Altitude Missile department of the Army's Air Defense School, and as an operations and intelligence officer in commands in Korea, and Colorado. Sam was a foreign nation missile event technical intelligence analyst in NORAD's Cheyenne Mountain Combat Operations Center near Colorado Springs from 1975 through 1978. He developed analyses and briefings in his work with national intelligence agencies on the Soviet and Chinese ICBM and SLBM threats to North America. In 1977, he authored the first user's handbook for the Soviet Space Order of Battle in the Defense Intelligence Agency's delegated order of battle production system.
In 1979, he was employed by LTV Aerospace and Defense, a defense contracting firm in Dallas, as a Lead Operations Research Engineer in their System Engineering organization. He led the Operations Analysis team on the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missile design competition won by the company. He managed "black" R&D programs investigating the application of stealth technologies on advanced programs aircraft. He retired in 1995 as an Operations Research Senior Staff Engineer and Advanced Development Programs Concepts R&D Program Manager; by then, the company had become part of Northrop Grumman and later become Vought Aircraft Division of Triumph Aerostructures. His company produced 30% of the B2 stealth bombers.
Sam then became active in community affairs serving as a grants panelist, and authoring winning grants for small nonprofit organizations. He was Vice President one year and President for six years of the local historical society. He researched, authored, and in 1998 self-published, "Terrapin Neck, Frog Level, Horseshoe", a 125-page book, and the first one published on the history on northern Caddo Parish. In 2007, he authored "North Caddo Parish" a captioned pictorial history book focusing on the cited area. In that same year, he completed a heritage assets survey for north Caddo Parish for the Caddo Lake Heritage Awareness and Education Program, a Louisiana-Texas funded activity. Working with the Collins Academy and Education Center in Jefferson, Texas, Sam became the Manager in 2010 of a provisional Caddo Lake National Heritage Area program, using those results and working with the National Park Service to get congressional recognition of the bi-state heritage area.
In 1999, he was asked to return to a division of his former company, by then known as Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control (LMMFC), to work on a guided variant of the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), a surface-to surface guided missile under development at the time. There, he completed a study that developed the mathematics and the inferential statistical analysis techniques used to produce highly reliable test program results while reducing the number of missile flight tests. Sam returned to retirement on March 31, 2000. At LTV Aerospace and LMMFC, he worked in Operations Analysis and System Engineering. Defense programs that Sam worked on included the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS), and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). Sam, always smiling and soft-hearted, was also a man of high intelligence and many talents. After leaving the company, Sam also managed the Pelican Lodge in Louisiana, taught high school in East Texas, and performed consulting work for non-profit organizations and universities.
In 2002, Sam was recruited by Black Ram Engineering, a system engineering consulting firm in Seattle, Washington, to perform technical services for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth, Texas, supporting the development and demonstration of the stealthy F/A-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Sam developed the master analytical tasks and risk management tasks and schedules for the air system analysis organization for the 12-year program, and coordinated the implementation and compliance with those schedules. Sam retired in 2004 after a successful and rewarding 37-year career in the aerospace and defense industry.
For 50 years, Sam enjoyed restoring and driving high interest vehicles -- a 1967 Corvette, a 1957 Chevrolet Apache, 2 1931 Model A Fords, 2 Mustangs, and a 1972 F100.
Beginning in 1961, he chronicled his family using photography, and his ancestry with almost 3,000 names currently in his family tree.
He was an archery enthusiast for over 50 years, and hunted with the bow until the 1980s, taking deer, squirrels, and various varmints.
He enjoyed fine dining and cooking both at the grill and barbeque pit, as well as at the indoor stove.
He was among the first in about 1980 to adopt the Personal Computer (PC), moving from being a main frame programmer of some 15 years at the time.
He was a Biographee in Marquis' Who's Who publications: Science and Engineering, each year 2001 through 2008; South and Southwest, 1999/2000; Finance and Industry 2000; America, 2000/1/8/13/14; World, 2000/9. In 2004 he was selected by the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England to be included in their Leading Scientists of the World – 2005 reference book that recognizes individuals that have fulfilled a standard of merit and excellence beyond the norm and represents enough contribution in their field to engender influence on a local, national, or international basis. Sam was a life member of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), the UTEP Alumni Association, and the Vought Retiree Club.
Sam is survived by his wife Deborah Ann (Debi) Collier of Vivian, daughters -- Sheri Le Andow of Austin, Texas, Suzan Mari Ranew, Donica Lynn Collier, and Michele Daniella Norrid of Irving, Texas; his son Samuel Richard Collier of Pierre, South Dakota; his bonus children -- Becky Linton Sanders, Angela Fredrick (Daniel), Paul Howard, Eric McMartin and Jackson McMartin; his brothers -- Michael Glen Collier of Liberty, Texas, Billy Charles Collier of New Waverly, Texas; and 15 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.
Sam was preceded in death by his father Samuel Roland Collier, his mother Dixie Pauline Sorrells Collier Terry, his sister Brenda Sue Collier Webb, his brother Wayne Roland Collier, and his daughter Phyliss Ann Kennedy.
A graveside service will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, September 2, 2022, at the Northwest Louisiana Veterans Cemetery 7970 Mike Clark Road, Keithville, Louisiana 71047 (phone 318-925-0612), officiated by Barry Headrick.
There will be a time of visitation on Thursday, September 1, 2022, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Gorsulowsky Funeral Home (https://www.vivianfuneralhome.com), 1107 S. Pine Street, Vivian, Louisiana 71082 (phone 318-375-3339).
- based on information from the obituary on the website of Gorsulowsky Funeral Home, from the family of Sam Collier, and from friend and co-worker Bob Bardo.
