John Carleton Collins, 73, of Glen Allen, Virginia, formerly of Millersville, Maryland passed away peacefully on Thursday February 5, 2015. He was born in Paris, Henry County, Tennessee on November 26, 1941 to Homer and Patti (Heffernan) Collins. He attended Lee Elementary School and Atkins Porter Middle School in Paris, Tennessee and graduated from Treadwell High School in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee. John then attended the University of Michigan. He then served in the US Army. When his Army career ended he began a long history at the Nation Security Agency (NSA) in Fort George Meade, Maryland. He worked at the NSA from 1964-1996.Following his years at NSA he worked as a contractor for Advanced Engineering, Research Associates, Computer Science Corporation and Welkin Associates until 2006.

He is survived by his wife of 48 years Ann (Griffin) Collins, two daughters, Susan Collins and Jenna (Collins) Midulla. He is also survived by the greatest joys of his life, his two grandsons, Collin and Dillon Midulla. John was very active in any community he lived in. While living in Maryland he was an officer and president of the Indian Landing Community Association and in the Severn Cross Roads Foundation in Millersville, Maryland. While living in Glen Allen, Virginia he served as an officer and president of the Virginia Center East Owners Association. He took pride in his love of genealogy, reading military and espionage fiction books and maintaining his extensive library from his den. He was a great fan of his grandsons Striker Soccer teams.
A private burial will be held in Portsmouth, New Hampshire at a later date.

A Memorial gathering with a service will be held on Sunday February 15, 2015 at 1:00pm in the Barranco & Sons.P.A Severna Park Funeral Home 495 Ritchie Hwy. Severna Park, MD 21146.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to: www.freetobreathe.org He was active in several test studies with Pulmonary Associates of Richmond, this is an organization that supports them.