Robert Wayne Mccollum

Services for Robert W. “Bob” McCollum, 81, will be held at 1 pm Tuesday December 9, 2003 at Austin Ave. United Methodist Church, with Rev. Tom Robbins officiating. Burial will follow at Oakwood Cemetery. This strong and faithful man, husband, father, grandfather, brother, and role model died Saturday, December 6, 2003. The family will receive friends Monday, December 8 from 5-7 pm at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey, 6101 Bosque Blvd. Bob McCollum was born in Waco, the third of four children, on June 30, 1922, to Bessie Mae and Lloyd McCollum. He led the Waco High School Tigers football team of 1939, to the state finals as quarterback and co-captain. He earned a football scholarship to Texas Christian University, where he met the woman he would adore for the rest of his life, Louise Williams. Their courtship was interrupted by World War II, when Bob left TCU in 1943, to join the Marine Corps. He graduated from Marine officer training at the top of his class, while continuing his college football career at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Upon his return from the Pacific at the end of the war, Bob and Louise married and began their family, eventually having four daughters, nine grandchildren and one great grandchild. He was called back to the Marine Corps in 1951, serving at Parris Island, South Carolina, during th Korean War and retired as a USMC Captain. Bob and Louise spent several years in Huntsville, TX, with their growing family, where Bob operated McCollum & Gresham, a retail tire and appliance company, and later built and owned, and later built and owned The Chef Restaurant and Center Motel. In 1966, they brought their family to Waco, where he was a founder and president of Allied Tire Company. Over the course of his long career, Bob mentored many young men who learned the meaning of personal and business integrity by his example. He was a founding board member of the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame, and was instrumental in raising funds to move its headquarters to Waco. For as long as he was able, Bob was devoted to his weekly participation in th Forum Sunday School Class at Austin Avenue United Methodist Church. In addition to Louise, his devoted wife of 57 years, Bob is survived by daughters, Sandy Hogan, of Shreveport, LA, Diane Jackson, of Waco, Nancy Potts and husband Tom of Waco, and Mary Lou Clark and husband Edward of Fort Worth; grandchildren, Christi Jackson Crain, Lindsay Traylor, Byron Jackson, Robert Henry, Michael Henry, Caroline Traylor, Will Clark, Neale Clark and Kelley Clark; great grandson, Glenn Crain V; sisters, Lucy McMurray and husband Jesse, Mary Frances Meador and husband Burton, and sister-in-law. Marguerite McCollum. Pallbearers are Michael J. Kopp, his grandsons and son-in-law. Honary pallbearers are H. Burce Alford, Dr. Roy Baskin, Sunday school teacher Charles M. “Bud” Gervig and members of the Forum Sunday School Class. The family expresses its great appreciation for the loving care given Bob by the staff at the Veterans Hospital in Waco. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to Austin Avenue United Methodist Church, 1300 Austin Ave., Waco, TX, 76701, or the National Alzheimer’s Assn., 919 N. Michigan, Suite 1100, Chicago, IL 60611.