Ivan Albert Collins

Ivan Albert Collins was born to Ivan Collins, Sr. and Vivian Wood Collins on May 31, 1940, in Anaconda, Montana. He and his siblings were raised in Eureka, Montana, where Ivan attended school. Ivan was an avid swimmer and diver, having won several medals and ribbons for competition diving. At the age of 16, Ivan enlisted in and completed training in the Coast Guard at Portland, Oregon. Later, it was discovered that he was not 18, he was asked to leave the Coast Guard and return when he was of age.

Ivan married Patricia L. Carlson in Kalispell on December 26, 1962, and they started their family in Eureka. Ivan drove truck for industries such as logging, gravel, and cattle shipping. After owning and operating a small gas station in Laurel, MT, Ivan attended a vocational training program in Billings where he received his GED and became a certified welder in 1971.

In 1972, Ivan and his family moved to Browning, where he lived most of his life and worked at the Blackfeet Writing Company as their chief machinist until 1985. Ivan worked as a design engineer and machinist for companies in the Bay Area of California from 1985 to 1989, and Spokane, WA, from 1990 to 1993. He and Patricia owned and operated small machine, design, and welding businesses in Santa Clara, CA, and Kalispell and Browning, where Ivan was well-known for his welding and machining perfection until his brief retirement in 2002. He received his CDL, passenger, and hazardous chemicals endorsements in 2003, and drove school bus for the Browning School District for a few years until he built his own shop by his home and resumed his welding and machining business until finally retiring in 2018. He also worked for FEMA’s Hurricane Katrina Recovery Effort in 2005. 

Ivan was preceded in by his father, Ivan, Sr., mother Vivian Wood Pluid, and brothers Raymond Collins, and baby Neil Pluid; sisters Lucille, Mae, Edith Lynn, Mary Theresa, and son-in-law Jim Croff. 

Ivan left this world peacefully in his sleep due to natural causes, on Monday, February 24, 2025. He is survived by his wife Patricia of Browning; brothers Ben and John Pluid of Eureka, and sons Gerald (Dianna) Whiteman and Carlson “Shane” First Strike of Browning, and daughters Gina Williams of Spokane, WA, and Iva Croff of Browning/Seville Flat. He is also survived by grandsons Rick (Destini) Whiteman and their children, Gerald “Cheech” Whiteman and his children, Andy Whiteman and his daughter, all of Browning, and Rodney First Strike and his daughters BlueSky and Juniper, of Ronan/St. Ignatius; granddaughters Jerilyn (Robert) Whiteman-Gray and their children and grandchildren, Cecilia Whiteman and her children and grandchild, all of Browning, and Trisha Croff and her daughter Bebe, Whitney Croff and her children Jemma, Kenton, Arrow, and DJ, all of Seville Flat. 

A wake will be held at Glacier Homes Community Center in Browning beginning March 8, with Rosaries held at 6:00 p.m., March 10 at the Center, and funeral at the Little Flower Parish in Browning at 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, March 11, with burial in Willow Creek Cemetery.