SARAH HICKS COLLIER

To have and to hold from this day forward, forever more, rings true for Sarah and Dick Collier. She was sweet 16 and he a year her senior when they first met at John Marshall High School. Lovestruck, they married 11 days after Dick’s graduation from Virginia Military Institute in June of 1957 in Richmond where she spent much of her youth. Born in Albemarle County, she was christened Sarah Frances Hicks.

SARAH HICKS COLLIER July 14, 2026

Early on, their work and military commitments took them from Virginia to Buffalo, N.Y., to Fort Benning, Ga., and then Fort Ord, Calif. Eventually, they returned to Virginia, first to Charlottesville, then Richmond, where their lives spilled out with depth and meaning.

Birthed from the post-war era, their generation gave meaning to hard work, ethics and moral standards that played out upon a foundation built in and on Christ. Blessings arrived in children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, who lovingly called her Meemaw. Each felt the gift of Sarah’s matriarchal position from which she poured out generosity, love, grace and strength.

Sarah will be remembered as the queen of gracious hospitality. Doors were opened to church circles and large family gatherings, friends, neighbors, wedding receptions, showers and celebrations of all sorts. She is well remembered by friends of her children as she seized opportunities to see and love on any and all that walked through her doors.

Sarah’s interests and accomplishments go wide and deep. She was a quintessential homemaker, seamstress, baker and cook but could just as easily be found glued to a game of basketball or a winning game of solitaire. She loved her many cats and dogs with Boston Terriers reigning supreme. She loved gardening and flowers. Pink roses were a favorite.

She excelled in the familyowned business, R.E. Collier, Inc. Builders, as co-owner, vice president and treasurer, tracking numbers and managing all with precision. Though a high school graduate, she attributes much of her training to her beloved brother, Charles, who attended University of Richmond night school to earn his CPA. Resourceful in nature, each day following, Charles would teach Sarah all that he had learned. Sarah and Dick together created a more beautiful Richmond which can be seen in the homes and offices they built. Theirs was a reputation for excellence.

Sarah was and is a precious servant of Jesus Christ. Within her heart, she understood that each person is made in the image of Christ and thus has immeasurable value. Her greatest wish was that any and all would know this too.

“It’s all by Grace,” she said, “poured out for you and for me.”

Sarah is preceded in death by parents, Warner Eugene Hicks and Annie Ruby Lynch Hicks Edmonds; siblings, Charles Eugene (Lucille), Thomas Micajah (Frances), and Franklin Lee Hicks; and son-in-law, Warren Maynard Goddard III (Dutch).

Sarah is survived by her beloved husband of 69 years, Richard “Dick” Edwin Collier; their faithful BT Buddy, as well as her children, Sonia Collier Goddard (Dutch), Stephany Collier Vivadelli (John), Richard Edwin Collier Jr. (Linda), Robin Collier Duty (Glenn) and Brian Batten Collier (Pamela); 21 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren; as well as many dear kith and kin. She was and is dearly loved.

A funeral ceremony will be held on Friday, Aug. 21, at 11 a.m. at Bliley’s-Chippenham, 6900 Hull Street Road, Richmond. Interment will follow at a later date in Arlington National Cemetery. NG