1932 - 2025
John R Collyar, age 92 of Springfield, MO passed away May 23, 2025. He was born on August 3, 1932 in Grant Co. Oklahoma to Claude and Mary Falkenberg Collyar. After graduating from Blackwell High School in Oklahoma, he served in the US Army from 1952-1954. Married to his high school sweetheart, Darlene Smith they had 3 children Eric, Lucy and Mary and made their home in Arkansas City, Kansas where he worked at the Apco Oil Refinery for 40 years. After Darlene passed he remarried Shirley Fouts in 1979. They resided in Ponca City, OK until 2019 when he moved to Missouri with his family.
John always had a big smile and a kind warm hug or hearty handshake for the family he loved and the friends that he made. When he was younger, his favorite pastimes were hunting and fishing with his brothers and nephews as well as playing softball for the Apco team. He loved watching sports on TV, (OK college football and women’s softball (GO Sooners), playing cards, listening and dancing to country music, fixing lawnmowers, buying musical instruments at garage sales that he could not master but always hoped that “one of the kids” would pick up and play, and was a believer of working hard at everything he did!
John is survived by daughter, Lucy and favorite son in law Mark Gordon of Springfield, MO; stepson Dean Fouts of Tulsa, OK; the joys in life, his grandchildren Jaime (Chris) Anglen, Michael (Lesley) Gordon of Springfield, MO, Sarah Fouts of Madison, WI and 5 great-grandchildren Jackson, Ellie, Bella, Zoe and Ben. He is also survived by many nieces and nephews he dearly loved, and lots of good friends he made wherever he went.
John is preceded in death by his son Eric, daughter Mary, wife Darlene, parents and 7 siblings, stepdaughter Tonya Yates and wife, Shirley. A cemetery service will take place in Arkansas City, KS TBD.
Finally, in his words and sense of humor when giving birthday cards he wrote on it’s interior, “I would’ve put more in here, but I already sealed the envelope.”
