J. Van Collins, a longtime Greer personality, passed away at the age of 70.

Greer says goodbye to J. Van

Billy Cannada's picture
By: 
Billy Cannada

Greer lost a memorable personality last week as J. Van Collins passed away at the age of 70.

Son of the late J. Van Collins Sr. and Georgia Mae Collins, he was known and loved by many in the Greer area.

“I’ll miss him a lot,” said Greer resident Gary Griffin. “He was one of the colorful characters of Greer.”

While he was many things to many people, Collins was often known for his ability to make others laugh.

“He was really funny,” Griffin said. “He had different outfits on at different times that added to that. He was somebody that I will miss because I enjoyed going along with him and laughing with him.”

John Wells, a Lyman resident who spent many years in downtown Greer, has his own collection of funny stories.

“I remember one time I left him at my house and told him to burn the leaves—this was right after we moved to Lyman,” Wells said. “I came home and the fire department had pulled up and they had squirted the leaves and put the leaves out--because he had such a big fire going--and they squirted him and he was soaking wet,” Wells said. “There’s just thousands of great stories I could tell about him.”

Collins played the role of salesman from time to time.

“When the pecans came in, Poinsett Street was J. Van’s territory,” Wells said. “He would be in everybody’s backyards gathering pecans and trying to sell them.”

Griffin, who works at Mutual Home Store, said Collins always came looking for pecans and a good conversation.

“We gave him pecans from our pecan tree,” Griffin said. “He would take them and go around town…He would come into [Harrill’s Clothing Store] sometimes and we would joke around with my father-in-law [Bill Harrill]. He used to tell my father-in-law how big his feet were and that kind of thing.”

Griffin said he knew Collins’ family.

“I knew J. Van’s family,” Griffin said. “J. Van’s mother was a customer of ours and was a real dear lady.”

The Greer icon was also a hard worker.

“He was one of the hardest workers I’ve ever met in my life,” Wells said. “He could do more with his hands than most people do with garden tools... He could do anything. He wasn’t that well-educated, but he was really smart. He was a good guy that brought a lot of laughter.”

Greer resident Ken Emory agreed with Wells.

“J. Van was a very unique person. I have never seen a man that was as proud of his job as he was,” Emory said.
“Whatever he was doing, when he finished, he was proud of it. When he did something good, he would go get everybody and show it to them.”

billy@greercitizen.com | 877-2076

The Greer Citizen

317 Trade Street Greer, SC 29651

Phone: 1-864-877-2076

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