Collier, Thomas Watts 4/30/1927 - 10/21/2022 Ann Arbor, MI
Thomas Watts Collier, 95, Ann Arbor, MI, died peacefully in the company of his family. Tom was born in 1927 in Washington, D.C. to Madelyn and Eugene F. C. Collier (COL, USMC). As a Marine brat, he traveled to Haiti and later to Shanghai, China. He and Vivian Oviatt met at Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, D.C., but he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1944 and was sent to Villanova College to complete Officer Candidate training. While there the war ended and he was in the Marine reserves until 1946. In 1948, he entered the US Military Academy at West Point, and when he graduated in 1952, he married Vivian. Together they raised a family of three: Anne (Richard) Hoff, Matt (Laurie) and Tim (Paula). Tom served twenty years on active duty, mostly in the Infantry and in airborne or Special Forces units. His military service took him overseas to Iceland, to Vietnam (two combat tours there with Special Forces and one with the First Cavalry Division) and, accompanied by his family, to Germany (twice) and Okinawa. He attended Jump School and Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia; the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California; the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island; and Duke University in Durham, North Carolina; and taught Military History at West Point. His military awards included two Bronze Stars, Combat Infantry Badge, Legion of Merit, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters and V for Valor, National Defense Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster and the Meritorious Service Medal. Tom truly loved teaching. After he retired from the military in 1972 and served in the civil service as Command Historian for the US European Command in Germany, he and Vivian moved to Ann Arbor in 1978, where he studied and then taught in the History Department of the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University and also served as an academic advisor. He won the student-selected Golden Apple Award honoring outstanding university teaching in 1995. Even after retiring from U of M in 1999, he taught many Elderwise and other adult classes as a volunteer. Tom enjoyed flying airplanes more than jumping out of them, and stayed active with swimming and biking. He and Vivian traveled extensively to all parts of the world, both during his military time and well into retirement. Tom was predeceased by his sister, Patricia, and brother, David, and grandson, Jacob, and is survived by his wife, children, and grandchildren. The family will gather in his memory when his ashes are inurned at the West Point cemetery.
*Published by Ann Arbor News from Oct. 23 to Oct. 30, 2022.
Thomas Watts Collier, 95, Ann Arbor, MI, died peacefully in the company of his family. Tom was born in 1927 in Washington, D.C. to Madelyn and Eugene F. C. Collier (COL, USMC). As a Marine brat, he traveled to Haiti and later to Shanghai, China. He and Vivian Oviatt met at Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, D.C., but he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1944 and was sent to Villanova College to complete Officer Candidate training. While there the war ended and he was in the Marine reserves until 1946. In 1948, he entered the US Military Academy at West Point, and when he graduated in 1952, he married Vivian. Together they raised a family of three: Anne (Richard) Hoff, Matt (Laurie) and Tim (Paula). Tom served twenty years on active duty, mostly in the Infantry and in airborne or Special Forces units. His military service took him overseas to Iceland, to Vietnam (two combat tours there with Special Forces and one with the First Cavalry Division) and, accompanied by his family, to Germany (twice) and Okinawa. He attended Jump School and Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia; the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California; the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island; and Duke University in Durham, North Carolina; and taught Military History at West Point. His military awards included two Bronze Stars, Combat Infantry Badge, Legion of Merit, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters and V for Valor, National Defense Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster and the Meritorious Service Medal. Tom truly loved teaching. After he retired from the military in 1972 and served in the civil service as Command Historian for the US European Command in Germany, he and Vivian moved to Ann Arbor in 1978, where he studied and then taught in the History Department of the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University and also served as an academic advisor. He won the student-selected Golden Apple Award honoring outstanding university teaching in 1995. Even after retiring from U of M in 1999, he taught many Elderwise and other adult classes as a volunteer. Tom enjoyed flying airplanes more than jumping out of them, and stayed active with swimming and biking. He and Vivian traveled extensively to all parts of the world, both during his military time and well into retirement. Tom was predeceased by his sister, Patricia, and brother, David, and grandson, Jacob, and is survived by his wife, children, and grandchildren. The family will gather in his memory when his ashes are inurned at the West Point cemetery.
*Published by Ann Arbor News from Oct. 23 to Oct. 30, 2022.
Collier, Thomas Watts 4/30/1927 - 10/21/2022 Ann Arbor, MI
Thomas Watts Collier, 95, Ann Arbor, MI, died peacefully in the company of his family. Tom was born in 1927 in Washington, D.C. to Madelyn and Eugene F. C. Collier (COL, USMC). As a Marine brat, he traveled to Haiti and later to Shanghai, China. He and Vivian Oviatt met at Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, D.C., but he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1944 and was sent to Villanova College to complete Officer Candidate training. While there the war ended and he was in the Marine reserves until 1946. In 1948, he entered the US Military Academy at West Point, and when he graduated in 1952, he married Vivian. Together they raised a family of three: Anne (Richard) Hoff, Matt (Laurie) and Tim (Paula). Tom served twenty years on active duty, mostly in the Infantry and in airborne or Special Forces units. His military service took him overseas to Iceland, to Vietnam (two combat tours there with Special Forces and one with the First Cavalry Division) and, accompanied by his family, to Germany (twice) and Okinawa. He attended Jump School and Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia; the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California; the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island; and Duke University in Durham, North Carolina; and taught Military History at West Point. His military awards included two Bronze Stars, Combat Infantry Badge, Legion of Merit, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters and V for Valor, National Defense Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster and the Meritorious Service Medal. Tom truly loved teaching. After he retired from the military in 1972 and served in the civil service as Command Historian for the US European Command in Germany, he and Vivian moved to Ann Arbor in 1978, where he studied and then taught in the History Department of the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University and also served as an academic advisor. He won the student-selected Golden Apple Award honoring outstanding university teaching in 1995. Even after retiring from U of M in 1999, he taught many Elderwise and other adult classes as a volunteer. Tom enjoyed flying airplanes more than jumping out of them, and stayed active with swimming and biking. He and Vivian traveled extensively to all parts of the world, both during his military time and well into retirement. Tom was predeceased by his sister, Patricia, and brother, David, and grandson, Jacob, and is survived by his wife, children, and grandchildren. The family will gather in his memory when his ashes are inurned at the West Point cemetery.
*Published by Ann Arbor News from Oct. 23 to Oct. 30, 2022.
Thomas Watts Collier, 95, Ann Arbor, MI, died peacefully in the company of his family. Tom was born in 1927 in Washington, D.C. to Madelyn and Eugene F. C. Collier (COL, USMC). As a Marine brat, he traveled to Haiti and later to Shanghai, China. He and Vivian Oviatt met at Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, D.C., but he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1944 and was sent to Villanova College to complete Officer Candidate training. While there the war ended and he was in the Marine reserves until 1946. In 1948, he entered the US Military Academy at West Point, and when he graduated in 1952, he married Vivian. Together they raised a family of three: Anne (Richard) Hoff, Matt (Laurie) and Tim (Paula). Tom served twenty years on active duty, mostly in the Infantry and in airborne or Special Forces units. His military service took him overseas to Iceland, to Vietnam (two combat tours there with Special Forces and one with the First Cavalry Division) and, accompanied by his family, to Germany (twice) and Okinawa. He attended Jump School and Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia; the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California; the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island; and Duke University in Durham, North Carolina; and taught Military History at West Point. His military awards included two Bronze Stars, Combat Infantry Badge, Legion of Merit, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters and V for Valor, National Defense Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster and the Meritorious Service Medal. Tom truly loved teaching. After he retired from the military in 1972 and served in the civil service as Command Historian for the US European Command in Germany, he and Vivian moved to Ann Arbor in 1978, where he studied and then taught in the History Department of the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University and also served as an academic advisor. He won the student-selected Golden Apple Award honoring outstanding university teaching in 1995. Even after retiring from U of M in 1999, he taught many Elderwise and other adult classes as a volunteer. Tom enjoyed flying airplanes more than jumping out of them, and stayed active with swimming and biking. He and Vivian traveled extensively to all parts of the world, both during his military time and well into retirement. Tom was predeceased by his sister, Patricia, and brother, David, and grandson, Jacob, and is survived by his wife, children, and grandchildren. The family will gather in his memory when his ashes are inurned at the West Point cemetery.
*Published by Ann Arbor News from Oct. 23 to Oct. 30, 2022.
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Interred in the columbarium at the cemetery.
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