“This Too Shall Pass” is a Persian adage that reminds people that both good and bad times are temporary.  It is also the motto that Mrs. Evon Arledge Collins lived by most of her life. It’s meant to encourage patience and hope during difficult times.

A resident of Clear Lake, Texas, Evon, aged 99, passes away after over 70 years in the area, of natural causes, on December 2, 2024.  Evon is the wife of Mr. John D. “J.D.” Collins, who preceded her in death, and the mother of 3 children: Janet Dee Stone, Joseph Barry Collins and Elissa Rae Collins. She was also a beloved grandmother for James Cecil Drosche, Jr., Erika DeeAnn Stone and Lilly RaeAnn Collins.  She leaves behind 6 great grandchildren and 4 great great grandchildren.

Evon was born to Edmund Ray Arledge and Arlene Graham Arledge, on January 20, 1925, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.  Her father was an Arkansas pioneer in amateur radio and refrigeration.  Typical for those days, her mother stayed home and was a skilled seamstress and cook. Evon was the proud older sister of “E.R.” Ray Arledge, from Pine Bluff, who preceded her death on July 18, 2020.

Evon was proud of her Southern heritage: being from the Arkansas Delta, surviving the Great Depression, World War II, the opportunity to have a career and still continue to learn.

She attended Gabe Meyer Elementary School and graduated from Pine Bluff High School in 1943.  Later in life, while living and employed near Houston, Texas, she graduated from Alvin Community College, cum laude, with a degree in Accounting.  Following that, she graduated from the University of Houston-Clear Lake, with a degree in Business Administration, with an emphasis on Collective Bargaining and Payroll Administration (1983).

Evon was married to J.D. Collins of Pine Bluff, Arkansas on November 22, 1947, in Chapel 1 at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.  J.D. had reenlisted in the United States Air Force following his service with the 8^th Air Force in England and as a former Prisoner of War. As a military wife, she followed with him until his retirement in 1963. That is when they returned to Houston, one of his former stations.  This is where Evon became employed at NASA Johnson Space Center until she retired in 1979.

She loved the journey of her career, which began, straight out of high school, as a freight clerk for St. Louis Southwestern Railroad during World War II, up until her marriage. She has worked for the United States Air Force in Base Civil Engineering at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska and McChord Air Force Base in Washington State.

Services will be held at Ralph Robinson & Son on 807 S. Cherry Street in Pine Bluff, Arkansas on Friday, December 6, 2024, at 11:00 A.M.