Earl E. Mr. Colin

GREENSBORO - Mr. Earl E. Colin, 91, of Greensboro and formerly of Wadesboro died peacefully at Beacon Place Hospice House in Greensboro on Friday, July 27, 2012. Funeral services will be 2:00pm Wednesday, August 1, 2012 in the Chapel of Leavitt Funeral Home with Rev. Mark Weekley officiating. Interment will follow in Eastview Cemetery. The family will greet friends following the service at the funeral home. Earl was born June 8, 1921 in Wellsburg, WV a son of the late Colonel Frederick Joseph Colin and Pearl Ann Billingsley Colin. He grew up in Steubenville, OH and attended Millersburg Military Institute in Millersburg, KY. He was preceded in death by his wife of 70 years, Edith Odom Colin, formerly of Wadesboro. They were united in marriage on December 7, 1941. Earl enlisted in the Ohio National Guard in 1939 and entered the United States regular Army in 1940. He was a combat veteran of World War II, earning four bronze stars and an invasion arrowhead in the European theater of operations. Attached to the 4th Infantry Division, Earl was platoon sergeant in the first Army Signal Unit to come ashore on Utah Beach on D-Day June 6, 1944, second wave. He was later assigned to General Patton's third Army in the dash across France in the Battle of the Bulge. After the war, he transferred to the newly formed Military Police Corps. He served 9 years in the regular Army and 6 years in Army Reserves. Earl remained active in veteran's activities. He was a member of the American Legion, a charter member of Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge, a life member of Disabled American Veterans Chapter 20, member of Retired Military Police Association, and life member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2087. He was formerly with the NC Highway Patrol and a licensed private investigator. He was Carolina Circle Mall's first Chief of Security and Safety and retired from Belk, Inc. in 1991. Earl volunteer with Meals on Wheels, Greensboro Police Department Youth Division, was a community police coordinator and a member of Grace United Methodist Church. Surviving are his sisters-in-law, Barbara Odom Jensen of Ft. Myers, FL and Jessie Odom Craven of Walterboro, SC and many loving nieces, nephews and special friends. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Disabled American Veterans, Guilford County Chapter 20, P.O. Box 20602, Greensboro, NC 27420. The family would like to thank special friends, Terri Sharpe and Clara Lorick, the Palliative United Staff of Wesley Long Hospital and Beacon Place Hospice for their love, caring and support. The arrangements are in care of Leavitt Funeral Home. Online condolences may be made at www.leavittfuneralhomewadesboro.com