Dallas B. Collins

November 7, 1923 to February 29, 2016

Dallas "D.B." Collins was born in a rural area of Aaron Kentucky to Ad Collins and Rose Collins. He was the oldest of their 11 children. One of his favorite things to do was go squirrel and opossum hunting for the family and helping his mother tend to their large garden. He worked on the family farm until he was drafted and joined the U.S. Navy.

He held many jobs in the Navy such as a cook and a firefighter. He was stationed at the Pasco Naval Station in 1943 and he and his buddies traveled out to Benton City to go to a dance and hopefully meet some girls. He spied a cute strawberry blonde playing the drums that night and he told his friends "I'm going to marry that girl some day". On February 16th, 1944 he married the love of his life Bernice (Lewis) Collins and they built their home in Benton City on her family's property. He stayed in the Navy and while he was on leave in Hawaii, their first daughter, Elaine, was born in 1945. In 1948 their daughter Beverly was born.

When he left the Navy he worked in the wheat fields up in the Horse Heaven Hills outside of Benton City, driving a wheat truck. Around 1945-1946 he went to work at the Hanford Area for Kaiser and then J.A. Jones driving trucks and many kinds of heavy equipment, until he retired 40 years later.

Upon his retirement, his wife Bernice was working at a local flower shop that had just come up for sale so they decided to hand up their retirement hats and start a business. They owned B.C.'s Flower & Gift Shoppe until their second retirement in 2001. They served the Benton City area with all of their floral needs and ran the shop as a family operation having their daughter and granddaughters working with them. 

They spent their final years of real retirement tending to their flowers, his vegetable garden and working on building things. He was quite the woodworker and there probably wasn't a tool that existed that he didn't own for building or repairing things. They also enjoyed going to Legends Casino with their best friend Bert Norton. He was a member of the Teamster's Union, Lifetime VFW and Lifetime American Legion. 

On January 17th of this year, Bernice, his wife of 71 years passed away from lung cancer and within a month and a half he could no longer live without her and after a short illness, left this world to be with his love. 

He is survived by his daughter Elaine Coates of Benton City; Granddaughters Vanessa Coates (Benton City), Angie Coates (Benton City), and Cori Wright (Otis Orchards, WA); Grandsons Jerry Bosch Jr (Otis Orchards, WA) and David Bosch (Virginia); Ten great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren; His youngest brother Howard Collins (Tennessee) and younger sister Alma Johnson (Kentucky).

He was preceded in death by his mother, father, other siblings and his daughter Beverly (Collins) Bosch; the loves of his life Bernice (Lewis) Collins who passed away 44 days prior, and his beloved Pomeranian "Peppy".

Graveside services will be held at Evergreen Cemetery on Horne Rd in Benton City, on Thursday, March 10, 2016 at 1:00pm. All family and friends are welcome to attend.