The community mourns the loss of JoAnne Collins, a beloved former educator and community servant, who recently passed away at 90 years old.
Collins was born on March 5, 1936, in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, to Myrle Barker Gibbs and Lloyd Tolbert Gibbs. She passed away on March 21, shortly after relocating from Yazoo City to be with her family out-of-state.
As a young girl, Collins’ interests included ballet, piano, Campfire Girls, and figure skating. Ice skating became her passion during high school, where she skated with the Tulsa Figure Skating Club and performed in annual ice shows.
Collins attended the University of Oklahoma in 1954, where she joined Alpha Gamma Delta sorority. That summer, she took courses at the University of Colorado. In the fall, she transferred to the University of Alabama, where she met her future husband, Clifton “Bo” Collins. They were married on June 1, 1957, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. JoAnne completed her degree in elementary education at Millsaps College in 1958 and later earned a master’s degree in education from Mississippi College in 1965.
When Collins arrived in Yazoo City with her husband, she entered the local school system as a teacher. She taught fourth grade at Woolfolk Elementary School for 23 years.
“She had a teacher’s voice that could command attention and a strong belief in doing things well and doing them on time,” her obituary reads. “She was an ‘orchestrator’ by nature, always keeping lists and making sure everything was done, often wishing it had been done yesterday.”
Collins was an active member of First Methodist Church in Yazoo City, where she served as an MYF leader, children’s Sunday school teacher, and leader of women’s Bible studies. In her later years, she became active in the Daughters of the American Revolution, where she gave programs and contributed her time generously.
A memorial service will be held on April 11 at 11 a.m. at First Methodist Church in Yazoo City, Mississippi. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in JoAnne’s honor to First Methodist Church in Yazoo City (fmcyazoo.org/online-giving) or the Daughters of the American Revolution (dar.org/support-dar).
