Crystal Lake Marine laid to rest

By Christine Byers Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted 8/18/2004

For about a half-hour Tuesday, the city of Crystal Lake stood still.

Morning football practice for the Crystal Lake South High School team was cut short so the boys could line the front lawn of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church for the funeral procession of alumnus Lance Cpl. Jonathan Collins. They held their helmets over their heads as the black limousines passed.

The 200-car procession stopped on Route 14 for a moment as local color guards honored the fallen soldier at McCormick Park.

Along Ridgefield Road, near the cemetery, two farmers stood next to a front-end loader draped with an American flag.

The images of American flags and hundreds of people lining the street three and four deep reflected off the Collins family's tinted limousine windows.

Homemade signs read "God Bless America" and "U.S. Marine John Collins, An American Hero."

To know Collins touched so many brought comfort to Angel Collins on the day she had to bury her son.

"He might have made a difference," she said.

Funeral directors estimated that about 3,000 attended the 19-year-old's wake Monday at the church. Eight hundred memorial cards were gone within the first few hours. Some stood in line for more than two hours.

Ushers closed the church doors almost an hour before the memorial Mass began Tuesday, so many of the 500 who attended watched the service via closed circuit television in another room.

Collins' father, Jack, stood stoically as his wife and son, Brandon, and daughters Lauren and Devon clung to him in tears as they followed the casket into the church.

In his homily, the Rev. John Bloh cried as he recalled giving Collins his first Communion and having him as an altar boy at the family's church in New Jersey.

"A few years ago, my brother and I went on a search for the graves of our grandparents," Bloh said. "And when we found them, we were shocked that most of their children had died before them. But written on each gravestone was, 'One less at home and one more in heaven.'

"Now this family can say, 'One less at home and one more in heaven.'"

At the end of the service, Jack Collins faced the crowd, which included Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, Congressman Don Manzullo, high-ranking military officials, friends and family, to give his eulogy.

"I stand before you today to attempt to answer the question, 'Who is Jonathan Collins?'æ" he said, still keeping his emotions in check.

He defined Collins as a best buddy to his brother, Brandon, 21, and a brother who would bring his sisters, Lauren, 15, and Devon, 12, to tears with his teasing one moment and have them laughing the next.

As a big brother who graduated from high school in 2003 and told Lauren on her first day at South: "You have nothing to worry about. I set the stage for you."

As a grandson who made sure his grandpa laughed every day.

As a friend who always made you smile.

As a Marine who died at his post with his brothers protecting the nation's freedom.

And as a son, who stood by his mother the last time he was home "knowing that's what she needed."

Sniffles, sobs and some laughs coming from Crystal Lake South students past and present echoed through the church during Collins' eulogy.

"If they didn't know him, they knew of him," said Dave Puma, who coached Collins in soccer during his sophomore year.

Last week, the Collins family gathered for a small ceremony at O'Hare International Airport to watch Jonathan's casket come off a military transport plane. They expected him to be shipping out of Iraq and coming home in just a few weeks.

Instead, he died as a result of small arms fire during combat patrol in Ar Ramadi in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq.

The family was visiting relatives in Chicago when the Marines came to their door in Crystal Lake.

"The hardest part was knowing why the Marines were there," said Renee Betancourt, Jonathan's aunt.

Last week, the family picked a plot at Crystal Lake Memorial Park under a large tree with smaller pines nearby.

On Tuesday, a crowd formed a circle around the family near the site as members of the Marine Corps honored Collins with a 21-gun salute, folded the flag that draped his casket and gave it to his mother.

Family members and friends placed white carnations on his casket. Jack Collins, still steadfast, wrapped his arm around his wife as she sobbed and sat in front of the casket. Most of the people already had left.

"Today was like an ending for them," Betancourt said.

And the casket was lowered.