He was known as Kyneton’s friendly local newsagent and now Tim Collins is one of the town’s newly celebrated centenarians.
Tim was the first baby delivered at the Kyneton hospital in 1924 and decades later, his wife Patricia gave birth to the hospital’s first set of triplets.
After finishing school, Tim got a job at the bank but, when war was declared, he joined the Navy and was trained as a paramedic. He spent four years in the Navy with two years and three months at sea on Corvettes.
Tim was at sea in Choiseul Bay, off the Solomon Islands, when news came through that the war was over.
He had started studying commerce during his downtime on the ship and when he was demobilised, he went to Melbourne University to continue the course but didn’t complete it.
Instead, he took over his father’s role as a newsagent after he died unexpectedly in 1947. Tim ended up buying the other two newsagencies in Kyneton.
He has no regrets about staying in the small town that rallied around him after an electrical fire destroyed his newsagency. Kyneton was also where he met and fell for a nurse named Patricia who became the hospital’s matron and the mother of his seven children.
Tim (at right) in his Navy days. 
An old family photo. 
Tim on his wedding day with wife Patricia. 
Tim and family celebrate his 100th birthday at RM Begg Kyneton on Friday.
