Cynthia Cameron Collier

There’s usually a right way to do things — load the dishwasher, treat a stain, water a plant — and Cynthia Collier could tell you exactly what it was. Doing it right mattered to her, and not just the little things. Cynthia cared about living her life right, taking care of the people she loved and the strangers she’d just met; the pets she’d adopted and the animals she found in the wild; her local community and the wider environment and world. She lived every day in the best way she knew how and set an example for her children, grandchildren, friends and anyone who was lucky enough to meet her.

Cynthia Elizabeth Cameron was born Oct. 6, 1940, in San Antonio, Texas, to Robert Gerald Cameron Jr. and Geneva Elizabeth Bottorff Cameron. Cynthia was a fourth-generation Texan and a lifelong educator. She graduated from Brackenridge High School in San Antonio in 1958 and from Baylor University in 1961 with a degree in education. She taught hundreds of children in elementary schools around the state, including Waco, Mart, Burkburnett, Lake Jackson, West Columbia and Sweeny.

Cynthia met her life partner at Baylor when a handsome young man named Tommy Collier asked her on a date to Baylor’s “Coke Hour,” still a longstanding BU tradition that’s now called Dr Pepper Hour. They were married July 29, 1961, at Baptist Temple in San Antonio and had the reception in her parents’ back yard. They honeymooned in San Marcos and rode the glass-bottomed boats.

On the way back from their honeymoon, they stopped at a farmer’s market and Cynthia bought black-eyed peas and peaches to cook their first meal as a married couple. Tommy, a coach and teacher, got up early for football practice, while Cynthia, on summer break, started cooking. When Tommy got home, they sat down for their first feast. Unfortunately, Cynthia had misread some of the recipes. The potatoes were almost raw. The black-eyed peas had turned to hard little BBs. The peach cobbler looked delicious, but with the first bite it was clear something was wrong: a tablespoon of salt instead of the called-for teaspoon. Still, recalls Tommy, the steaks were really delicious.

But true to her nature, Cynthia didn’t give up. She worked hard to make meals that everyone loved. Her breakfast eggs were famous because she made each person’s eggs individually, exactly as they wanted. There was a plate by the oven for the eggs that just hadn’t turned out perfectly (which were the ones she ate). She made sure no guest or loved one lacked for a delicious home-cooked meal.

Family was important to Cynthia. She and Tommy had three children: Jana in 1964, Tyree in 1965 and Shannon in 1969. She taught her children to read early and delighted in their successes as they grew up. They all went to Sunday School and church Sunday mornings and training union Sunday nights. On their many car trips and vacations, she kept her children occupied by reading stories, playing games like 20 Questions, and singing songs, harmonizing in her beautiful soprano voice. She encouraged her children to use their imagination. They built forts under the dining room table, wrote stories and put on plays and concerts in the home. The family spent weeks together every summer at Lake Medina, where Cynthia’s family had a cabin since the 1920s. Cynthia was patient and kind, gently tolerating the boisterous debates her children and husband constantly engaged in. And she made sure everyone was well-dressed, sewing many of their clothes with her creative flair and treating every single stain on every clothing item. Every. Single. Stain. The kitchen was usually decorated with underwear and socks hanging from every knob, so no elastic was ruined in the dryer.

Her grandchildren were precious to her: Claire and Rachel Keathley, Aidan and Ben Collier, Hank and Lucy Saegert; and her great-grandson, Collier Brannock. They called her Allabear. She gave her grandchildren free reign when it came to their imagination, and they built Barbie houses throughout the house, spent hours in the elaborately outfitted playhouse in the back yard and learned about new cultures from Cynthia and Tommy’s friends.

Baylor University was an important part of Cynthia and Tommy’s lives, and they rooted for the Baylor Bears at games in Waco and all over the country.

Cynthia and Tommy traveled around the world and visited all 50 states and 84 countries. She loved experiencing different cultures, learning local customs and history and meeting new people. They made friends in every country and became the home-away-from-home for international travelers and students. She and Tommy taught English internationally through the Neighbors International teaching program, and they led the International Sunday School Class at Columbus Avenue Baptist Church for many years.

Cynthia researched family history and dragged Tommy to courthouses and cemeteries around the country. Closets throughout the house are packed with carefully labeled boxes of hundreds-year-old wills and family documents.

Cynthia attributed her acceptance of other people to her paternal grandmother, Hazel Henning Cameron, whom Cynthia called “Nana.” Cynthia said Nana treated people with respect, regardless of where they came from, what they believed or what they looked like.

Cynthia also gave Nana credit for her love of animals. And, oh, how Cynthia loved animals. She took a large suitcase of dog food to India to feed the stray dogs, and her table was covered with animal stories she’d clipped from Guideposts magazine. Her children’s animals loved when she came to visit because she’d pet them and talk softly to them for hours. She sent her grandchildren Mother’s Day cards for their cats. If she came across a spider or junebug in the house, she carefully carried it outside and set it free. Only cockroaches were killed (sorry, roaches). In particular, her cats brought her great joy, although you wouldn’t necessarily know it by their names. Over the years, there were Black Cat, Yellow Cat, Toes Cat, Bad Cat, Not My Cat and, most recently, Momma Cat, who brought her great comfort these past few years.

She was always concerned about spending too much money and kept an eye out for sales. One December in the 1980s when the family went to Memphis for Baylor’s Liberty Bowl game, she bought a huge amount of half-price wrapping paper at Kmart. There were six people traveling in a two-door Monte Carlo, so she carried the entire bundle on her lap for 300 miles. She was still using that wrapping paper 40 years later.

Nothing was more important to Cynthia than her faith, and she believed deeply in the power of God to heal and save. She once told her daughter Shannon about a turbulent plane ride in which she believed the plane was going to crash. Shannon asked her if she was afraid. She was not afraid for herself, she said, but for all the people on the plane who might not be saved.

Cynthia had a stroke in September 2021 that left her partially paralyzed on her right side. Tommy became her caregiver and chief encourager. Cynthia never gave up, learning to walk with a special cane and foot brace and teaching herself to write with her left hand. It made her even more determined to share her faith with others.

In an interview with her daughter Jana in November 2021, she said: “The longer I live I feel sure that Christianity is real. But that doesn’t mean you have to go to church. It’s a relationship between you and God. It really has nothing to do with church or priests or pastors or anything like that. By God, I mean an intelligent creator. The main thing is your relationship with God.”

She said she wanted her grandchildren to know how much she loved them and how much God loved them. “I want to stress to them what I feel is most important in my life. And it’s been brought to life more deeply because I’ve lost some things. But I know that my faith in God is the most important thing in my life. And I hope that it is for them too.”

Cynthia is survived by her husband of 64 years, Thomas “Tommy” Burnham Collier; her daughter Jana Collier and her husband Mike Wallace; her son Tyree Collier and his wife Rose Ann; her daughter Shannon Saegert and her husband Chip; her grandchildren Claire Keathley and her husband Cody Brannock; Rachel Keathley and her fiancé Caleb van Haaren; Aidan Collier and his fiancé Megan Peterson; Ben Collier; Hank Saegert; and Lucy Saegert; her great-grandson, Collier Brannock; her sister, Rebecca Dunbar; her stepmother, Doris Cameron; and many nieces and nephews.

Please join the family to celebrate Cynthia’s life with a visitation from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Funeral Home, 6101 Bosque Blvd., and a service at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at Columbus Avenue Baptist Church, 1300 Columbus Ave.

We realize this obituary is very long, but if you knew Cynthia, you know you really can’t have too many details. But here’s the most important detail: Cynthia Collier was a woman full of love, who put other’s needs above her own, and we’re so grateful to have experienced her kind and gentle spirit.

We invite you to leave a message to the family or memory of Cynthia in her “Memorial Guestbook” at www.WHBfamily.com.