Obituary
Dennis Earl Collins, 61, of Battle Creek, passed from this life on May 28, 2017, at home surrounded by his family after bravely fighting cancer.
Dennis was born July 15, 1955 in Sontag, Mississippi to the late Edward and Dessie Collins. When Dennis was an infant, the family moved to Battle Creek. Dennis attended Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church and confessed to Christ at an early age and continued to have a relationship with his Lord and Savior. Dennis attended the Battle Creek Public Schools and received his General Education Diploma. He married Valerie King in 1990.
Dennis held several jobs in the Battle Creek area. He worked in the janitorial services at the VA Hospital, Griffin Superb Cleaning, and several of the temporary agencies. He also worked as a CNA in nursing homes and worked as a home health care provider. Additionally, he was self-employed in lawn care and house cleaning services. He was the maintenance man able to fulfill your every need. In fact, if you needed a mover, a house cleaner, a yard worker, you could have called on Dennis. No job was too big or too small and he had faithful customers that used his services for years. And by the way, Dennis loved kids and kids loved Dennis. If you needed your kids watched, you could have called on Dennis because he was known as a good and trusted babysitter. He could be seen taking kids on bicycle rides in the summer. Yes, Dennis loved family, the ladies, yardwork, kids, card games, dominoes, western tv shows, and cash words. Dennis was known for his famous potato salad and talking.
Dennis leaves to cherish him in memory a wife, Valerie Collins; 2 children (son) Torby Boykins of Battle Creek and (daughter) Denisha Tucker of Lansing, MI; 2 brothers Archie L. Collins of Sontag, Mississippi and O’neal Collins of Battle Creek; 2 sisters Genevieve Collins of Battle Creek and Bertha (Elven) of Albion, MI; 3 sisters preceded him in death Madean Collins, Dorothy J. White, and Pearl L. Baggett; 6 grandchildren Anfernee Boykins and Tahveayr Boykins of Battle Creek, Dejanique Hayes of Albion, Monay Allen of Minnesota, Dominque Boykins of Georgia, and Toshe Iron of Alabama; and host of aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, cousins, and friends.