Arkansas Travelers

A surprise 70th birthday party for Steve’s cousin Roger drew us to Springdale, Arkansas, on September 14. Roger was born January 15, 1949, but his daughters, Lauren and Lindsay, completely shocked him by assembling over ninety people to celebrate four months in advance. Both the surprise and the party were masterfully done. Let me set the scene.

Northwest Arkansas: verdant rolling hills close to the Ozark Mountains, friendly, innovative, music-loving people. Several large corporations–Walmart, J.B. Hunt, Tysons Foods–have headquarters in Springdale or Bentonville. Fayetteville boasts a large university and an active arts scene.

Cousin Roger is no mere Arkansas traveler; he has lived there for over three decades. He recently retired as CEO of Harps Foods, an 88-store chain which competes successfully with Walmart on its home turf. In 2001 he engineered an Employee Stock Ownership Plan with a leveraged buy-out from the Harps family. At the funeral of his dear wife Marilyn in 2011, we could see that he is one of the area’s most respected citizens. Co-workers, neighbors, and fellow church members sought us out to say how much they appreciated him.

• 

Since we had to keep the party secret from Roger until that evening, six of us formed our own group of Arkansas Travelers–Cousin Gene, his wife Marilyn and daughter Beverly, Joe, Steve and me. Beverly drove Gene’s big SUV an hour northeast to see Thorncrown Chapel, an exquisite sacred place designed by E. Fay Jones (Rice ’51) and built in 1980. Jones’ prize-winning design minimized costs and site disruption by specifying Southern Pine lumber no bigger than what two people could carry (2x4s, 2x6s, and 2x12s). It looks like an open-air structure, but is glass-enclosed and air-conditioned. When I visited the chapel with Marjo four years ago, I got to play the chapel piano. This time I sat still and meditated.

• 

• 

Eureka Springs was built in the 1890s near healing waters. We enjoyed exploring the shops, climbing the steps, and eating good food on the outdoor balcony of an old hotel. I wish that we had had time to visit Crystal Bridges, the fabulous art museum in Bentonville. We had loved our earlier visits–next time for sure!

• 

• 

• 

• 

Steve has always felt especially close to his Collins cousins and so have I. Roger was in the class of ’71 at Rice. His daughter Lauren stayed with us in Arlington the summer of 2005. We toured Alaska together in 2013 and he helped us celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary in 2016. Steve and I gave Roger a book picturing all the good times we have had together.

From the surprise on Roger’s face to the final dance, his birthday party at the Sassafras Winery was full of sweet moments. We shared Roger’s love for fried chicken and Bluebell Ice Cream. We put on goofy hats. We danced to the music of a wonderful band. We chatted with more people who think the world of him.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

And we cried when we heard JoRene’s moving tribute to her brother.

Wow, Roger – 70 years! (well almost).  I am Roger’s sister, JoRene.  We have an older brother, Jay, and a younger sister, Rita.  Roger – your seventieth year!  Who knew any of us would live this long. Anyone observing the Collins family growing up certainly couldn’t have predicted a long life for any of us.  

We rode bikes without helmets, we had no seat belts, we jumped off the roof of our two story house when Mother left us at home alone, we lit firecrackers and tried to see what we could blow up….  Roger was a cub scout and part of his uniform and equipment was a hatchet, …. a hatchet (a first grader with a hatchet)!  What could possibly go wrong there???  Of course, we tried to chop up everything….obviously, I was  relegated to holding the object being chopped and Roger executed the chopping – fortunately only scars across my hands, but no loss of fingers.   

Growing up as Roger’s younger sister certainly increased my odds of early catastrophe.  Roger was just a hot mess growing up!!   

He delighted in being mischievous and playing a trick on me was surely his favorite pastime.  I helped out by falling for his tricks, every time!

One example: we were shopping with Mom at a store in Odessa which actually had an escalator… watching Roger go up the escalator the wrong way .. he turned to me and said,  I bet you can’t do that… which I of course immediately took up the challenge… when I was about ¾ of the way up – Roger shouts in a loud voice…  HEY!!  Look at that girl going up the escalator the wrong way — the store manager met me at the top of the escalator much to Roger’s amusement… and MOTHER’S EMBARRASSMENT! 

Yes, Roger growing up was a hot mess!  
But there was the other side of Roger…
Mother goes to Roger’s parent teacher conference in elementary school.  The teacher, who is pregnant, begins to tell Mother what a great student her son is, how well behaved he is, what gentlemen he, how kind and respectful her son is – the teacher then asks Mom, what is the secret to raising such a child as this, since she is about to face the challenge. Mother looks at her and says, “Excuse me, do you have me confused with someone else?  I am Roger’s mother.” 

There was just one grade between Roger and me, though we were two years apart.  I knew Roger’s friends were and he knew mine. I attended almost every game Roger ever played in basketball, baseball, football, whatever. [Editor’s note: JoRene kept a scrapbook of all the programs and newspaper articles.]  I had a front row seat to the life of Roger Collins.  We played games at home, we played outside games, inside games, games about whatever we could imagine.  I wanted to be involved in whatever Roger was involved in… because let’s face it, being with Roger is just fun!  You are going to laugh and you are going to have a great time.   Of course, you were going to LOSE the game, because Roger is a competitor and he WILL find a way to beat you, but still I tagged along every chance I could.

I observed Roger’s behavior in sports and Roger’s behavior at school.  Good sportsmanship defined Roger’s game.  If the ref in basketball made a terrible called foul on Roger… he never reacted.  He never lost his temper.  He never lost his cool – I never saw it, not once in all those years – remarkable in today’s world isn’t it? Being a good sport was important.  Having character, having integrity were always part of Roger’s fiber.  

Every year in school, teachers found me in the hallways… teachers I did not know.  Are you Roger’s sister?  They wanted to talk to me about Roger.  What a great person he was – what a wonderful student he was, and on and on…. Who does this?  I didn’t initiate these conversations – these teachers found me, they sought me out.   

Why?   I know the answer – Roger, you are that special person.   You always have been.  Even in my senior year in high school after you’d gone off to Rice, I had teachers, like Mr. Turlo and Mrs. Dial, the senior English teacher – track me down to talk to me about Roger. What effect did this have on me?  I wanted people to think I was that kind of person, too.  I certainly didn’t want to be the Collins kid that screwed up!  

I think I can safely say that every person in this room has had their lives enriched by knowing Roger Collins.  Roger has made you laugh. He has entertained you.  He has reached out to you and shown you love and caring when you needed it.  Roger has shown genuine interest in you and your life because he does care.  

Roger, I love you.  Happy Birthday!  

Roger, we love you, too. Here is one more tribute:  Pete Seeger playing Arkansas Traveler.