Mack Van McCollum was a man of many talents. As a young man, Mr. McCollum was a farmer. In his early years of farming, he worked his fields with a horse-drawn plow. “When he finally got his Cub tractor, he was so proud to be at a place where he could get out from behind a horse,” Sadye McCollum recalled. “He loved his little Cub.”
After graduating, he moved on to a new chapter in his life as co-owner of Fyffe Hardware and as a chicken farmer. “I tended the chickens and Mack worked outside of the home,” Sadye continued.
Mr. McCollum served two years in the United States Army during the Korean War (which ran from 1950-1953). He was stationed in Sausalito, California. “He served up on a hill with the other guys. They were the protectors of the United States,” Sadye said. “That was right at the area where someone that was an enemy would come in. They were called, ‘Keepers of the Gate,’ referring, I guess, to the Golden Gate Bridge. After he was discharged, he had a job waiting for him in Childersburg, Alabama. We stayed there and worked, about two or three years, but he decided that work was not a life-long career for him, so he got a job with Mr. Ralph Christopher at the Ford Tractor Company in Fort Payne, as a parts man. He excelled in that capacity. I mean he excelled! He won an honor for being the best parts man in the southeast territory. When Mr. Christopher sold his business, Mack started working with Boykin Tractor in Rainsville. He excelled in that capacity as well. After that, he came home and farmed. He was a good farmer. He had soybeans and cattle.”
In the late 1960s, Mr. McCollum became very interested in politics, and he ran for and won the election as DeKalb County Commissioner for his district. He began his tenure as a commissioner in 1971. He served one term (1971-1975) as Commissioner and then ran for and won the election as Commission President in 1975. He served two terms in that capacity (1975-1983). When his tenure with the DeKalb County Commission ended, his public service did not end, rather it moved to a new office with new responsibilities, when he began his 6-year term as DeKalb County Tax Assessor (1985 – 1991). “At the end of that term, he came home, but didn’t sit down, he stayed busy,” Sadye remembered.
Still, Mr. McCollum wasn’t finished with his desire for public service. In 1995, he began serving as a Board Member for Farmers Telephone Cooperative (now known as Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative). “We were very, very honored,” Sadye said. “When he stepped down from that, it was due to health reasons.”
In addition to Mr. McCollum’s desire for public service, he was also a person his neighbors could depend on- very community minded. “Anything anyone needed, all they had to do was ask, and Mack was willing to help,” Sadye said. “I think he delivered very well for his fellow man.”
Mr. McCollum was an avid bird hunter. He had several friends in prominent positions that he shared his love of hunting. “Mack would bring these birds home, and I’d have to pick the buckshot out of them. Most of the time he had someone who he had invited to come and eat bird gravy and biscuit. So I was part of his retirement,” Sadye laughingly recalled. “We just grew old together. He’ll be missed.”
Mack Van McCollum, age 87 of Fort Payne, passed away Sunday, April 28, 2019. A graveside service was held on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, at 1:00 pm from Mountain View Memory Gardens with Reverend David McCarrol and the Honorable Judge David Rains officiating.
Mr. McCollum is survived by his wife – Sadye Young McCollum, daughter – Suzanne (Fost) Daniel, sister – Doris Wilson, grandchildren – Annie Daniel (William) Johnson and Jesse (Sheena) Daniel, great-grandchildren – Foster McGowan Holt, Tyler William Johnson, Morgan Lee Johnson, Levi Jess Daniel, Samuel Dean Daniel, and Ruby Claire Daniel.
He was preceded in death by a daughter – Holly McCollum Voght, and sisters – Claudine Godsey and Peggy Fischer.