Newsletter Feature: David B. Collins
Dave Collins was born in Clinton, Iowa. At age 3, his dad took a job in Chicago. The family moved to Wheaton where they lived until Dave completed Fourth Grade. They then moved to Winfield, the next suburb west. Dave attended public schools in Wheaton, Winfield and West Chicago.
Dave had a very happy childhood. He always had friends his age in the neighborhood. Dave would play outside all year, playing sports, riding bikes, flying Cox gas-powered planes and “exploring” the nearby farmer’s fields and forest preserve. Dave remembers one summer building a huge tree house out of scrap lumber from houses that were being built in the subdivision. A group of rival boys tore down the pieces of 2x4 that had been nailed into the tree to access the tree house. The Winfield Fire Department had to come to get them down!
Dave has been married to his wife, Jane, for almost 27 years. Jane teaches Fourth Grade at Ridgeview Elementary School. They have two children, Erica, 19 and John, 17. Erica is a freshman at the University of Iowa. John is a junior at Dunlap High School. Dave's Mom and Dad are retired and live in Iowa.
Dave started at QJHPC in 1990. Dave was working as a law clerk to Justice John A. Gorman of the Illinois Appellate Court. Justice Gorman spoke highly of Quinn, Johnston, Henderson & Pretorius and helped him get an interview. Dave knew as soon as he interviewed that this was the place for him. Shortly thereafter, he was offered a job and officially started work on August 19, 1991.
When asked who most influenced Dave, he answered: "My Mom and Dad. They not only verbalized the importance of hard work, character and community service, their lives reflected (and still reflect) those values."
What Dave likes most about the legal field is the variety of work. His favorite part of the job is investigating facts and gathering information about a claim, figuring out what happened and assessing the strengths/weaknesses early on. Dave likes the variety of practicing throughout Central Illinois.
If Dave was not working at QJHPC he would probably be doing something to fill his time as Daytime TV drives him crazy!
Some things you may not know about Dave:
-He worked as a Forest Ranger before going to Law School
-He enjoys walking and hiking
-He enjoys doing the Children’s Sermon at his church
-He enjoys fishing
-Dave is a HUGE Iowa Hawkeye fan!
