Michael Collins of Plainfield proud of service to country, community

A surprise reception to honor former Plainfield president and Air Force veteran Michael Collins wound up blessing another veteran in turn.

Family and friends honored Collins’ many years of varied service on Oct. 6 at HopScotch & Vine in Plainfield in advance of his participation in Honor Flight Chicago later In the month.

The event also raised another $1,400 to help provide that same experience to another veteran.

“I have amazing friends,” Collins said, deflecting praise discussing his service.

He served in the Air Force, as did his father and two younger brothers.

Collins served as a volunteer firefighter because “I only lived two blocks from the fire department,” he said.

He served as a police officer, first in Plainfield until 1969 and then with the Illinois State Police until October 1998. Collins credited his fellow officers – and even the community – for his success, adding that challenging work is easier “when you have such cooperation,” he said.

Collins also served as a trustee of the Plainfield Fire Protection District (1989 to 1999), the village of Plainfield (1999 to 2007) and finally as Plainfield president, serving three consecutive terms, starting in 2009 and retiring in 2021.

You try to make the best decisions that you can.”

—  Michael Collins, Air Force veteran and former Plainfield president

Collins said he tried to use his talents to “make the right decisions and guide the village in a positive direction.”

“When I was mayor I think that, with the help of the trustees, we accomplished a lot,” Collins said. “The village really grew.”

From serving his country to serving his community

A lifelong Plainfield resident, Collins was 18 when he joined the Air Force after high school graduation. He learned aircraft mechanics and worked on B-47s in Idaho and C-130s in Ohio, Collins said.

Collins was honorably discharged four years later and then worked as a police officer in Plainfield due to a lack of aircraft mechanic jobs in 1968, he said.

“I applied to numerous positions and didn’t get a favorable response,” Collins said. “There was an opening with the Plainfield police, and I had a wife and a child and we needed to support ourselves. So I took the job.”

A neighbor suggested Collins could make more money as an Illinois state trooper, Collins said. So he took the test, attended the academy for four months and became a trooper, which he called “a wonderful career.”

“I enjoyed it a lot, trying to keep people safe moving along the roads,” Collins said, adding the first 10 years of his career was “primarily a traffic job.”

Collins then moved to detective work for the remainder of that career. He attended “numerous schools and seminars” to understand investigative techniques and was assigned to the intelligence division, working first in Des Plaines and then in District 5, before finishing his career with the Illinois Gaming Board.

“Each case is different, that’s for sure,” Collins said. “It’s a lot of common sense and a lot of cooperation by other departments to solve these things. I was blessed to have very good associations in the department and with local police and the country. It was a joy to be with them, and the public helped a lot. It all works together.”

As Plainfield village president, Collins worked hard to improve his hometown, especially since “the people voted me in and I so much appreciated that,” Collins said.

“It’s quite a commitment and you try to make the best decisions that you can,” he said. “You talk to people, and you talk to the other trustees … of course, you can’t please everyone. All I wanted to do was please the majority of the residents in town.”

Proud of service to Plainfield

Collins currently has stage four prostate and bladder cancer. However, after some other challenging health battles, he said he has felt well and stayed active since April because his wife Jo Ann takes good care of him.

Collins said he remained in Plainfield because “my roots are here” and “I felt comfortable staying here.” His father Lorne was from Minnesota, and his mother Marilyn from Lockport. Collins is the eldest of nine children, the father of three children – Christine, Jennifer and Joseph (a U.S. Navy veteran) – as well as the grandfather of nine and great-grandfather of six.

To Collins, “it’s a pleasure to see Plainfield grow and prosper” and he’s “proud of his service.”

“I’ve been here my whole life,” Collins said. “When I was growing up Plainfield was 1,600 people. Now it’s 47,000. North of town was just all farm fields. At that time – near 127th – was the Wheatland Plowing match, where the farmers would go out and compete in plowing. Now you go up to 127th and you’re almost connected with Aurora.”