Colleen Wayne Collins Fletcher

February 12, 1928 - August 22, 2015

Visitation 10:30 AM Saturday, August 29, 2015 with Memorial Service beginning at 11:00 AM at Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, 10000 James A. Reed Road Kansas City, Missouri 64134-2169.

Colleen Wayne (Collins) Fletcher was born Feb. 12, 1928 in Chillicothe, MO. We weren’t there that day, but we have to assume that from Day 1 she displayed a sunny, happy go lucky disposition. Her parents were Clifford Wayne and Opal (Belshe) Collins. She never liked being her father’s namesake, with a middle name like Wayne, but it was already a done deal by the time she was old enough to express her opinion. The family moved to N.E. Kansas City during the Great Depression. Colleen started to work at Allen’s Dairy as a soda jerk at the age of 13, and worked there until she graduated from East High School in 1945. While working there she met her husband to be, (Robert) Jack Fletcher. In letters they wrote during their courtship, they always referred to each other as “their O and O, or One and Only. They got married April 23, 1949 and made their home in the Kansas City area. They waited 6 years to start a family and she remembered those years together fondly. She worked at City Hall and Jack worked at Bendix.

In 1965 Jack died of cancer at age 37, and for a time her personality became very somber as one can imagine, raising three kids on her own, learning to live as a widow at an early age. A very big part of her depression was trying to make sense of why God supposedly needed another angel, which meant her losing her only husband; and her children their only father, when as the Bible says “God is love.” She finally received a logical answer to this question about 10 years later, and it was an answer that helped her to make peace with what had happened and look forward to the future. So when she retired from the IRS in 1989, she opted to spend 20 hours a week in a Bible based volunteer work, and truly found that as Jesus said, there is “more happiness in giving than in receiving.” Since 1977 she attended Hillcrest congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses and at age 80 moved to Ecuador for 7 years and brought much joy to all she met. She returned in 2014 to live in Wichita, Kansas to be near her family.

She was preceded in death by her daughter, Lisa Rae in 1957, her husband in 1965, her father in 1985 and her mother in 1988; brothers, Edward, Clarence, Frank and his wife, Jackie, as well as her nephew, Randy Curry and her sister, Gloria Curry who died in 2013. She is survived by her children, Tim & Cathy Fletcher residing in Wichita, Kansas, David & Brenda Fletcher residing in Lee's Summit, Missouri and Linda & Tom Medcalf residing in Otavalo, Ecuador. She is also survived by her 6 grandchildren, Mike (Phaedra, Audrey, Naomi) Fletcher residing in Overland Park, Kansas, Melissa Fletcher residing in Otavalo, Ecuador, Blake (Brittany) Fletcher residing in Lee's Summit, Missouri, Kirk (Natasha) Fletcher residing in Lee's Summit, Missouri, Gage Fletcher residing in Lee's Summit, Missouri and Troy (Crystal) Fletcher residing in Lee's Summit, Missouri. Survived by Shirley Fletcher Holland Robinson loving sister of Jack Fletcher residing in Anderson, MO; her niece, Marilyn Fletcher O'Brien (Tom) residing in Pineville, MO; her sister, Donna Collins of John Knox Village; Bob Curry of John Knox Village and nephews Robert, Barry & Terry Curry.

She set the example for all of us to be loving all the time and when in doubt, be kind.