LTC (U. S. Army Retired) William Collier Martin, Sr. (known to friends and family as Collier) 85 years of age, of Effingham, Illinois, died in his home on Tuesday, March 27, 2012 following a courageous battle with cancer.

A Celebration of Life service will be conducted at 10:30 a.m., Friday, March 30, 2012 at Centenary United Methodist Church, Effingham. Burial will be held in Woodlawn Cemetery with military graveside rites. Visitation will be held from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Thursday evening at Centenary United Methodist Church in Effingham.

In Lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the following:
The Illinois Old Soldier's Home, c/o Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, 101 N. Fourth Street, Effingham, Illinois.
Carol Martin Academy, Monrovia, Liberia, c/o Centenary United Methodist Church, 203 S. 3rd Street, Effingham, IL 62401
Bauer Funeral Home in Effingham is assisting the family with arrangements. www.bauerfh.com

Collier was born 16 August 1926 in Atlanta Georgia to William Henry and Lillian Collier Martin. Collier's first marriage was to the late Alice Elizabeth Nickle (Nikki), 12 January 1952 in Charlotte, North Carolina, with whom he shared forty years and raised four children. Following her death he met and married Carol Jeanne Keyes on 25 July 1998 in Pensacola Florida.

He attended elementary and high School in Atlanta, Georgia followed by the University of Georgia graduating with a BS in Zoology. He also attended Charlotte Memorial Hospital, Charlotte, North Carolina Hospital Administrator Course.
Collier's military career began at the age of 17 when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy serving on the USS Repose Hospital Ship in World War II in the Pacific theatre. After college and an early hospital admin career, resumed his military career serving in the U S Army Medical Service Corps where he attained the Rank of Lieutenant Colonel and commanded field hospitals. Highlights of his military assignments included Panama Canal Zone, Viet Nam, Stuttgart and Heidelberg Germany, Okinawa and various Army posts within the United States.

The establishment of Hospice of Northwest Florida in 1984 is one of his most important career accomplishments. Another was serving as a certified Lay Speaker for the United Methodist Church for 38 years. He was extremely proud of receiving awards for Who's Who in America, The World, Science and Engineering, Science and Medicine and Who's Who in the South and Southwest. In his leisure time, Collier was a member of El Jabel Shrine, Sojourners, the Masonic Lodge, Sea Explorers, and Boy Scouts of America. Additional interests included traveling the world, boating, railroads and trains, and model railroading.

Collier is survived by his wife, Carol of Effingham, Illinois; his daughter, Mary Anne and her husband Alan Tomson of Fairfax, Virginia; his daughter Patricia Jean and her husband Gerald Purcell of Effingham, Illinois; his son William Collier Jr. and his wife Vivian Wyndham of Ft. Mill, South Carolina; and his daughter, Nancy Lee of Effingham Illinois; his two grandsons, Brian Tomson and his wife Mary Louise of Germantown, Maryland and Scott Tomson and his wife Shannon of Fairfax, Virginia, one granddaughter, Katie Purcell of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, his great-grandchildren Moss Tomson of Bozeman, Montana and Owen Tomson of Germantown, Maryland; and Sophia Tomson and Liam Nicholson of Fairfax, Virginia.

He was preceded in death by his parents Lillian Collier (1967) and William Henry Martin (1968), as well as his first wife Alice (1991).