Mrs. Mattie Belle Collins died Aug. 16 in Cobb County. The daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Augustus (Josephine Davis) English, she was born in 1920 in Newton County. Mrs. Collins moved to Savannah after the death of her mother. She graduated from Savannah State College and was employed as an elementary school teacher. Because special education was important to her, she earned a master's degree in special education from Atlanta University and taught special education in the Chatham County Public School System. She was a recipient of several awards such as Teacher of the Year. After 28 years of service, Mrs. Collins retired in 1978. She joined Bethlehem Baptist Church in Covington at an early age. In Savannah she joined Connor's Temple Baptist Church and later the Little Bryan Baptist Church. She returned to Covington in 1999 and returned to Bethlehem Baptist. While Mrs. Collins and her husband Joseph had no children, she loved her many nieces and nephews. Mrs. Collins enjoyed writing poetry, helping nieces and nephews with school projects and designing church bulletin boards. She was a creative, talkative person who enjoyed a good joke. Her parting phrase was, "Tell everybody I love them."

Surviving are sister Myrtis Benford; nieces Elaine Cooper, Josephine (Ned) Brown, Eugenia English-Nevils, Diana Belcher, Josephine Gray, Shannon Apodaca, Jackie Benford; nephews Frank (Doris) Stokes, Calvin Benford, Omega Benford, Stanley Benford, Anthony Benford, James Tuggle; sister-in-law Conetta English; the Davis family of Conyers; a host of great-nieces and -nephews, other relatives and friends.

Funeral services were held Aug. 20 at Bethlehem Baptist Church with pastor H.K. Benton Sr. officiating. Interment followed at Westside Cemetery.