82-year-old Wamsley matriarch Dorothy Collins remembered by family

Dorothy Lee Collins, a lifelong presence in the wider Adams County and Southern Ohio community, died Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, at the Adams County Manor in West Union. She was 82.

Born May 17, 1943, to John Morton and Daisy Mae (Webster) Beach, Collins was the third of thirteen children and one of a large extended family that stretches across Adams County and neighboring Kentucky. She was preceded in death by her husband, Kenneth Ray Collins, who died in 1994, two sisters and five brothers. She is survived by seven children: Kenneth Randall Collins and Timothy Ray Collins of Manchester; Janeile Elaine Bowling of Peebles; Barbara June Spicer of Manchester; Peggy Marie Mineer of Flemingsburg, Kentucky; A.J. Collins of Cincinnati; and Tina Muriel Lansing of Piketon. Her survivors also include three sisters, two brothers, 14 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren and several great-great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

Collins graduated from Scott County High School in Georgetown, Kentucky. A homemaker by trade, she was known for a quiet domestic skill set and a long list of pastimes that anchored family life: reading, gardening, fishing, sewing and collecting dolls. Those interests helped shape an intergenerational household culture — grandchildren and great-grandchildren often recall time spent in gardens or around a sewing table.

Visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Jan. 17, at Lafferty Funeral Home in West Union, followed by a graveside funeral at 1 p.m. at Moore’s Chapel Cemetery in Blue Creek. Billy Morris will officiate. Lafferty Funeral Home Incorporated is serving the family; memorials may be directed to Lafferty Funeral Home, P.O. Box 5, West Union, OH 45693. Condolences can be posted at laffertyfuneralhome.com.

Her passing at Adams County Manor also highlights the role of local long-term care services in towns like West Union, where access and support for elderly residents and their families are vital community concerns. For many Adams County families, nursing homes and senior services are daily realities that deserve attention, adequate staffing and sustained community backing.

Our two cents? If you knew Dorothy or her family, consider stopping by the visitation or graveside to share a memory, send a note to Lafferty Funeral Home, or check in on neighbors who rely on long-term care. Small acts of support go a long way in a county where family ties run deep.