From the Daily Mountain Eagle, September 19, 1972
Submitted by Robin Selman

Thomas Jefferson McCollum, 84, Nauvoo, died Sunday in Peoples Hospital. His funeral will be today at 3 p.m. from Old Prospect Methodist Church with interment in the adjoining cemetery. Rev. Dan Aikens will officiate. Collins Funeral Home is directing. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Beatrice McCollum, 5 daughters, Hazel Phillips, Memphis; Nora Balzell, Nauvoo; Grace Jones, New Albany, Miss.; Virgie Lee Freeze, Birmingham; and Ima Jean Heurer, California; 4 sons, Paul McCollum, Mississippi; Fred McCollum, Nauvoo; Charles Lawson McCollum, Birmingham; and Keith McCollum, Pell City; 18 grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.