Lucille Boddie Collins

A graveside service honoring the life of Mary Lucille Boddie Collins will be held at 3:00 p.m., Saturday, March 25, 2023 in Forest Park Cemetery, 3700 St. Vincent Ave, Shreveport, Louisiana. A visitation will be held prior to the service from 1:00 p.m. until 2:00 p.m. at Rose-Neath Funeral Home, 1815 Marshall Street, Shreveport, Louisiana. Officiating the service will be Reverend Max Zehner of Noel Memorial United Methodist Church.

Lucille Collins, 103, passed away peacefully, Tuesday, March 21, 2023. Just two months shy of her 104^th birthday, she was born May 25, 1919 near Ruston, LA, and was the daughter of John L. & Elizabeth Hinton Boddie, both of Lincoln Parish pioneer families. She grew up on a farm in the Burgessville Community north of Ruston, where she attended the two-room schoolhouse. She was a graduate of Ruston High School in 1936 and then moved to Shreveport to attend nurses' training. She married Robert W. Collins, Jr. at Noel Memorial United Methodist Church in Shreveport on December 2, 1939, where she was still a member.

Lucille was employed by Interstate Oil Pipeline as a nurse. She later became a Public Health Nurse for the Caddo Parish Health Unit up until her retirement in 1986. She then used her nursing skills to care for her husband, who was ill for 21 years, with a love and dedication like no other. She chose to do all of the caregiving by herself, while still making time for family. She was a loving mother and loved the title she earned of being "Nana". She filled these roles perfectly and was one of the best anyone could ever be.

She was a great storyteller who was always willing to tell a listening ear about her and her siblings' life experiences of growing up during hard times. Her stories included milking the cow early every morning, cooking on the wood burning stove, picking corn and cotton by hand, walking to school barefooted, and her daddy plowing the fields behind his horses for days on end from sunup to sundown in the springtime.

Lucille loved her flowers and vegetable garden and had pride in a beautiful yard. She had a green thumb and could grow most anything. She loved sharing her produce with neighbors, friends, and family. She canned figs and string beans and always had something good to eat that she grew herself and cooked.

Lucille is preceded in death by her husband of 58 years, Robert W. Collins, Jr., and her son, John Robert Collins. She is survived by her son, Paul R. Collins of Ruston; granddaughter, Colleen Collins of Downsville; grandson, John Paul Collins, of Ruston; and special friend and next-door neighbor who always kept an eye out for her, Carole Bartels, of Shreveport. The family would like to express sincere thanks to her caregivers, Barbara and Chasity Holyfield, for the loving care they provided.