Obituary of Martin Dillard McCollum

Age 99, of Burton, died Monday, March 19, 2007 at his home. Mr. McCollum's funeral service will take place 10:00 am, Monday, March 26, 2007 at the Miles Martin Funeral Home. Pastor Scott Southerland will officiate with Military Honors conducted by the American Legion Post #158 of Clio. Cremation will follow with inurnment in Flint Memorial Park. The family will be present to receive friends on Sunday from 12:00 noon to 8:00 pm. Those desiring may direct memorial contributions to the Genesee County Humane Society or the Visiting Nurses of Michigan Hospice. Envelopes are available at the funeral home. \ \ Mac was born August 29, 1907 in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Riley and Mary Emma (Dillard) McCollum. As a boy, his parents moved to Colfax, Illinois where he attended a one room school house and the family would eventually move to Reynolds, Indiana to a 640 acre farm where his father raised thoroughbred horses. Mac graduated from high school in Chatmers, Indiana and, along with a friend, would soon move to Flint, Michigan (after reading advertisements that General Motors was hiring), in a 1923 Ford Touring car to gain employment with Buick Motor Division. For the next two years he worked for an hourly rate of 49 cents per hour. Mac soon came to the realization there was more money to be made selling the cars than building them. His career and activity in automobile sales has seen him as past president of National Independent Automobile Dealers Association, past president of Flint Independent Automobile Dealers Association, past president of the Michigan Independent Automobile Dealers Association, and past president of Midwest Zone of the National Auto Auction Association. Mac served as president of Flint Auto Auction for 31 years. He sold his interest in the company in 1984. Not ready to retire he built a new auction in Mt. Morris on Dort Hwy., which was opened in July of 1990 as Michigan Auto Auction, Inc. Four and a half years later he sold the auction to Manheim Auction of Atlanta, Georgia. Mac finally retired in December of 1999 at the age of 92. Throughout Mac's life he had an enthusiasm for airplanes. This enthusiasm, and the fact that he already held a private pilot's license, led him to enlist with the US Air Force during WWII. He served from 1942 until 1946 in the Asiatic Theatre flying in B-29 bombing missions from India through China and into Japan. After the war his passion for flying continued and led him to acquire his instrument rating. He also moved from a Cessna 120 into a twin engine Piper Aztec. Mac and Bernida Kampengre were united in marriage in 1938. She preceded him in death in 1960. A few years later he would meet Carolyn D. Essa. They were married in 1962. She preceded him in death in 2000. Mr. McCollum was an avid golfer, fisherman and big and small game hunter having hunted from as close as home to as far away as Alaska and the Northwest Territory. Mac was active in his community throughout his career and was a life member of Elks Association. He always enjoyed his numerous friends and business associates, and he had a host of many special close friends. \ \ Left to cherish his memory are his daughter: Susan McCollum of Burton, step-daughter: Dianne Christenson of Grand Blanc, grandson: Frederick Bush of Burton, great-granddaughter: Lauryl Bush of Burton, two sisters: Grace Ellen Kenyn of Muncie, Indiana and Doris and husband Gene Vanpelt of Hartford City, Indiana, sister-in-law: Helen McCollum of Hardford City, Indiana and several nieces, nephews, cousins, friends and business associates.\ \ He was preceded in death by his parents, several siblings, wife: Berneda McCollum in 1960, Wife: Carolyn McCollum in 2000, son: Barry McCollum in 2005, grandson: Nicholas Christenson in 1997 and granddaughter: Shirley Bush in 2000.\