William B. "Bill" Collins

William Bruce "Bill" Collins, age 76 of Brooklyn passed away on Tuesday, September 20th, 2016. He was born February 12, 1940 in Detroit, Michigan to Harry and Marie Collins. Bill proudly served in the U.S. Navy after graduating from Brooklyn High School in 1958. He worked at Chrysler Proving Grounds in Chelsea, MI until his retirement in 1999.

Bill's lifelong passion was cars, starting at a young age when he traded his mother's bicycle for a model T, which he turned into a hot rod at age 15. From there he got into late model stock car racing until a bad accident at Jackson Motor Speedway ended his driving career. He continued building race cars for others and occasionally working on pit crews and later for the track when NASCAR visited Michigan International Speedway.

Bill is survived by his three sons, Tim (Karey) of Oxford MI, Bob of Brooklyn MI, and Corey (Maricar) of Philadelphia, PA. He has five grandchildren, William "Billy" Collins, Victoria "Vicky" Collins, Cameron Collins, Taylor Collins and Logan Collins.

A memorial service is planned for this Sunday, September 25th at 5:00 PM at the Beach Bar, Clark Lake.

Instead of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the Alzheimer's Association, 2111 University Park Drive, Suite 200, Okemos, MI, 48864.

Desnoyer Funeral Home-Family owed for 126 years