Mary (Betty) Elizabeth Collins

Mary (Betty) Elizabeth Templeton Collins was born to Fred and Lila Templeton on April 9, 1933 in Bache, OK. She went to her reward in paradise at 92 years of age on December 23, 2025 from Conroe, TX.

A 1950 graduate of Hartshorne High School, she married Elmo Elbert Collins on February 9, 1950, in Hartshorne, and they began their life together that would last 74 years.

The oldest child among ten siblings, Mary was exceptionally gifted in singing and poetry. She won singing awards and sang with Sweet Adelines. Her poems were original and beautiful. She was a successful real estate agent and worked as church secretary. She was a wife and a mother and built a family full of love. Most importantly, she was a believer in Christ and had an earnest desire that all her family too would be believers. In this she has succeeded, and in this she is now rejoicing.

Mary is survived by her husband, Elmo; her daughter, Peggy Giles (Lou) and her son, Elmo Jr (Karen); her grandchildren, Brooke Giles Cox (Michael), Dorothy Collins Andreas (Josh), Amber Giles Beene (Bryan), and Christopher Collins (Jennifer); her great-grandchildren, Everett, Caleb, and Tyler Cox, Samuel and Benjamin Andreas, Micah and Jake Beene, and Kayleigh, Avery, Paige, and Braden Collins. Mary is also survived by her siblings, Sandra Johnson, Darrell Templeton, and Nancy Mattingly and many, many nephews and nieces.

Mary is preceded in death by her parents, Fred and Lila Templeton; and siblings, Janette Albright, Robert Templeton, Bea Williams, Sarah Akin, Thomas Templeton, Martha Scott, and Johnnye Wilson.

Services will be held at Brumley-Mills Funeral Home Chapel, 1410 East Carl Albert Pkwy, McAlester, Oklahoma 74501 on December 31, 2025. Visitation begins at 10:00 a.m. with services at 11:00 a.m. Interment follows services at Red Oak Cemetery, Bache, Oklahoma.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to In Search of the Lord’s Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, Oklahoma 73083.