Woman recalls irrepressible brother B.T. Collins in book

Fifteen years ago, the Vietnam War hero was buried on the Fourth of July in East Lawn cemetery on Folsom Boulevard.

His black headstone sits on high ground under an old elm. Scholarships, buildings and a park bear his name.

While young Sacramentans and the city's newcomers may not remember B.T. Collins, the former assemblyman is considered one of the most colorful characters in California.

His sister, Maureen Collins Baker, has written a biography of her audacious and irrepressibly outspoken brother titled "Outrageous Hero, the B.T. Collins Story".

"It's about a life," Collins Baker said by telephone from her home in Rhode Island. "People might think I'm making it up, but it's all true."

Brien Thomas Collins died March 19, 1993, after suffering a massive heart attack in a Sacramento hotel lobby where he had gone for a lunchtime speech by Gen. Colin Powell, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Collins, who lost an arm and leg in combat, was known for his wit, which sometimes incorporated his disability.

His sister writes that distance matters when hauling around 13 pounds of wood on a raw leg. To avoid stairs in one building he frequented, he was given a special key to work an elevator that wasn't open to the general public.

Once, when a college student wished out loud that he could take a special elevator like Collins, his sister writes that he replied: "Hey. No problem. All it'll cost you is an arm and a leg."

Similarly, when one of his friends, tired of helping him move from one bachelor's pad to another, jokingly told him to hang his own pictures, Collins' biting humor held forth:

"I would, but I lost my arm and my leg in the war. Remember, while you guys were parading around with all those signs?"

In a nod to his irreverent attitude toward his disability, the reverse side of his headstone in East Lawn sports a cartoonish depiction of the prosthetic hook that Collins used in place of a hand.

Underneath is inscribed, "The world's a better place because he was here." To Collins Baker, that says it all about her brother.

A moderate Republican, he directed the California Conservation Corps and was chief of staff to former Democratic Gov. Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown Jr. He was the director of the California Youth Authority under Republican Gov. Pete Wilson.

His antics included a 1981 stunt in which he downed a malathion-laced drink to prove the pesticide was safe.

"That drove my family nuts," said Collins Baker.

The styles of Brown and Collins were different. Collins Baker calls them the "odd couple of politics." While Collins stayed up all night drinking and forming relationships, Brown stayed up all night questioning America's place on the planet and the nation's responsibilities, writes Collins Baker.

"Brien thought Brown was smarter than God," Collins Baker said.

In an interview last week, Brown said Collins was loyal to his friends, had guts and inspired people.

"He had the qualities of a leader," said Brown, now California's attorney general, adding that conditions today are more hostile to genuine leadership – and that is a problem.

"So, for example, the fact that B.T. drank a lot, if you put that on a résumé, a lot of people would say they would not hire that guy," Brown said.

After then-Gov. Wilson named Collins in March 1991 to head the California Youth Authority, Collins made national headlines by refusing to accept complaints from wards of the state unless they used proper grammar and spelling.

At Collins' funeral, Wilson, a former Marine, broke down twice, Collins Baker said. Wilson said at one point: "If he were here now, he'd say, 'Candy-ass Marine.' "

Collins, a lifelong bachelor, helped raise money for a new center for WEAVE, Women Escaping A Violent Environment.

Collins Baker said that her brother's interest in WEAVE is to a great extent related to an abusive domestic relationship she once suffered.

She interviewed more than 300 friends and associates of her brother, even the doctor who amputated his unsalvageable leg. She also had access to 150 of Collins' letters, which trace him from gung-ho soldier to weary warrior.

There was much talk about duty and country at the dinner table when he and his two sisters were growing up.

Collins spearheaded an effort to build the state's memorial to Vietnam War veterans.

To spur publicity about the memorial, he called upon the patriotism of reporters:

"Don't you think your master sergeant father would want you to write something?"

His sister said it was appropriate he be buried on the Fourth of July, given his love of country. Initially, the thought was he would be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, but it was decided that East Lawn was better so Sacramentans could visit.

They still do, leaving flowers next to the polished granite headstone, the same color as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's Bill Lindelof, (916) 321-1079.