By William Bower | About a month ago I received a call from Mike Collins, of Canton, who wanted me to know that due to health reasons he had resigned as President of the Canton Gun Club. For many years, I depended on Mike to give me the name of an old sportsman that we could honor at our National Hunting and Fishing Day Banquet, which is held each year at the Canton Elementary School. |
After hearing this, I felt badly that I had not kept in contact with Mike after I retired from the game commission. A day or so later I went to see Mike to thank him for all the help he had given to the game commission and wildlife.
Mike was told by doctors that he has a kidney disease, along with heart blockages caused by calcium from the kidneys. He has gone through quite a few operations and also had two heart attacks, one immediately after leaving the operating room for a stint placement. Mike was having trouble with breathing and swallowing for a few years, and a brain scan showed that he was suffering from two small strokes. Since Mike is unable to eat, he is being fed through tubes in his stomach. However, Kay (his wife) told me that he has shown some improvement and is now able to take fluids, with sips of Stewart’s orange soda his favorite.
Through the years, I wanted to have Mike honored as “Canton’s Old Sportsman” but he never agreed to do this. While visiting Mike, I asked if I could interview him for the article “Everyone has a story to tell”.
Again he was reluctant; however, with prodding from Kay and myself, he agreed. I suspect that the doctors’ diagnosis for Mike probably played a part also. No matter, here is Mike Collins story:
Mike’s parents were James and Elsie (Denkenberger) Collins. His Grandfather Martin Collins came from Ireland, while his grandmother’s family came from Germany and originally settled on Armenia Mountain. Jim and Elsie had three children: Mike, Thomas and Susan. Mike, who was the oldest, was born on November 1, 1937. The family lived in the Granville area when Mike started elementary school (the old yellow brick high school) in Canton.
When Mike was in fourth grade the family moved to Elmira, NY. Jim had been working at a foundry when he was struck by a heavy casting and suffered a broken back. In 1948, the family moved back to PA and lived in Alba The back injury caused Jim to be disabled for the next ten years.
He then began working at Swayzes. Elsie worked at Remington Rand until Susan was born, and then she became a full-time house wife.
Kay’s parents were R. Carroll and Fern (Packard) VanNoy. Kay was their only child. Her father sold John Deere equipment and ran the VanNoy Equipment Garage on Sullivan Street, in Canton.
While Mike attended Canton High School, he was attracted to one of his classmates, Ann (Kay) VanNoy. After the couple’s first date at a movie, Kay anxiously awaited an invitation from Mike to go to the Junior Prom that was fast approaching. Well, Mike (just as most young men) waited until the last minute (until he had enough courage) to call and ask Kay to the Prom. Kay said, “Yes.”
While a junior at Canton High School, Mike was a member of the school’s first wrestling team, with Bob Bowman as their coach.
Mike dated Kay throughout their senior year, and the two graduated in 1956. After graduation, Mike went to work at Valvair, in Canton, and Kay went to a business school in Elmira, NY, which led her to employment in
the office of the Troy Engine Works.
In 1957, realizing that in several months they would be eligible for the draft, Mike, Bob Randall and Scott Shedden went to Towanda, where the trio enlisted in the Army, hoping they would stay together.
The three were sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky, to be processed and then on to Fort Carson, in Colorado, for eight weeks of basic training.
After basic training, Mike had a two-week furlough and went home. He and Kay were married at St. Michael’s Church, in Canton.
While in Hawaii, Scott’s father passed away and Scott was given a discharge to come home and help in running the family farm. Bob Randall was sent to Germany.
While Mike was stationed in Hawaii, Kay remained in Canton. After being in Hawaii for over a year, Mike had a month leave and flew home. After Mike’s discharge in February 1959, he returned to Canton. Mike still had to attend four more years of National Guard meetings at Mansfield.
After his discharge from the army, Mike worked at Valvair for two years and then began selling insurance for the Prudential Insurance Company, which he did for the next 32 years. He worked out of his home and went to the Mansfield office about once a week.
Mike’s father was definitely the reason that he and his brother Tom became avid hunters. Mike remembers his father taking the two of them to hunt rabbits and pheasants in the Alba Swamp and deer hunting on KniffinRidge, on Armenia Mountain. Mike’s first deer was a five-point buck that he killed on Claude Dunbar’s land on Armenia Mountain; however, the biggest buck that Mike shot did not come from off the mountain. After Mike was dropped off on the mountain, he planned to hunt on the way home. At the bottom of the mountain, a group of hunters were making a drive, so Mike sat down until the drive went by. One of the drivers asked Mike if he had seen anything, and Mike replied that he had not.
The driver continued on, and Mike sat there, waiting for the drive to be over. He began walking and when he looked down onto an open field, Mike saw a really big deer. Although Mike was using a 30/30, he decided to
take a shot at the deer. He did, and the deer fell. Mike cautiously approached the downed deer, and when he was within 25 yards, the deer stood up and headed straight away. Mike was going to shoot again but realized that he had not ejected the empty shell. He quickly worked the action on the gun and fired again. The deer stopped and turned broadside to him, and Mike fired again, killing the deer. After Mike was able to examine the deer, he found that he had not even hit the deer with the first shot and the second shot only grazed the rump; however, the third shot killed the deer. The deer was a ten-point buck and the biggest that Mike was ever to kill. The previous year he had killed a spike buck, with the spikes measuring about three inches.
Along with hunting, Mike loved to fish, especially ice fishing. He claims that his brother, Tom, got him involved in ice fishing. In 2005, Mike caught a 22 inch, 7 pound bass in Canton Lake. For years, Mike, Tom and Wayne Geisler entered ice fishing tournaments at Rose Valley. The trio never won but they always had a great time.
Mike also enjoyed turkey hunting, especially the spring season. During the first year the game commission had a spring season, Mike killed a big gobbler. Since that first year, Mike can’t recall a year that he hadn’t killed a bird.
Mike was a member of the Canton Sportsmen’s Club and served as president until just recently. Mike mentioned that for over twenty years he put in a lot of time and work at the gun club’s fish pens, releasing some nice trout. One fall the members decided to try and winter over about fifty twelve-inch long trout to be released the next spring; however, a mink got into the fish, killing most of them.
Mike was known for being a very good trap shooter. Eight times in one year he broke 100 birds. He said shooting 100 birds was tough because you had to really concentrate on shooting. Once, while shooting at the Keystone Gun Club, Mike shot 199 birds out of 200, and on another day, he shot 500 in a marathon shoot.
Mike was on a team for the first Old Dead Eye Shoot that I held for the sportsmen in the area. A shooter had to be on a team of five, and the events were: rifle, shotgun, muzzle loader, pistol and bow. Awards were given to the winner in each event and of course the winning team.
Mike and Kay had two children, Dave and Doug. Dave married Pam Bailey, and the couple lived in the Granville area. In 2014, Dave died from cancer. Doug married Tianne Greene, and the family lives in the Baltimore, MD Area. They have two children, Carisa (26) and Dylan (15).
Mike proudly told me that Dylan has turned into a hunter and fisherman.
One day Mike took his young grandson, Dylan fishing; however, the fish were not biting. Then, while Mike was getting ready to go home, Dylan caught a fish. Mike told him that if he kissed the fish and threw it back in the water, it would tell the other fish about the kiss, and they would start biting. Although Dylan was not too keen on the idea, if grandpa said so, it must be true. Reluctantly, Dylan kissed the fish and threw it back. Soon, the fish started biting. Since that time the first fish is always given a kiss and returned to the water, with hopes that it will tell the other fish. Mike, being a proud grandfather, showed me a picture of Dylan’s first deer, which was a doe killed in the Granville Area.
After retiring from Prudential Insurance in 1992, Mike went to work for Dave Morse Funeral Home, on Center Street, in Canton. Eventually, the funeral home was sold to a man by the name of Heffener from York, who owned funeral homes in Troy, Mansfield, Blossburg and Wellsburg. Mike began working at these homes as well. Part of the job was to pick up the deceased and take the body to the funeral home. Many a time he was called in the middle of the night to pick up a body. Once during a big snowstorm, Mike got a call to go to a retirement home, in Sullivan County. Kay went along. The snow was so deep the bumper of the vehicle was pushed the snow. On their return trip, they followed a snowplow all the way back to Grover. Mike told me that working at the funeral home was more fulfilling than selling insurance.
For many years, Mike helped Jim Campbell (a Canton elementary teacher) put on Hunter Education Classes for all of the students in sixth grade.
Back then the men took guns to school for giving instructions on gun handling. Mike added that would not happen in today’s world.
I contacted Mike’s brother, Tom, to see if he had any pictures from when the brothers and sister were young. Tom told me that he and Susan had the best older brother.
Tom, told me that their Uncle Dick Denkenberger also took them hunting ginseng. At the age of 87, the mountain became too steep for Uncle Mike, and he quit hunting ginseng; however, Mike and Tom kept up the tradition.
Although Mike and Tom turned out to be deer and turkey hunters, their father Jim really enjoyed rabbit hunting. He and the boys would start their hunt early on a Saturday morning; return to the house for lunch and then back out hunting until quitting time. Their dad always had good beagles.
Mike has told me that he is ready for whatever the future holds. He knows that it is not up to him or the doctors but when the Lord calls him home. In the meantime, Mike is going to buy a hunting license and put in for his doe tag. Sounds to me that Mike has the right attitude! |