Augusta National member honors his caddie

The family of a longtime Augusta National Golf Club caddie who died in late June has a story to tell.

It's about an Augusta National member and his respect for Joe Collins, whose final resting place is close to the famous course where he worked for nearly four decades.

For more than 10 years, Collins was the regular Augusta National caddie for Brad Boss, a Rhode Island businessman.

The two had more than just a member-caddie bond. Every year without fail, Collins would send cards to Boss on three occasions: his birthday, Christmas and Father's Day. When Collins became ill a few years ago, Boss would call to check on his friend at the Augusta home of Collins' aunt, Faye Latson, who was caring for him.

But what Boss did after Collins died "blew everybody out of the water," said Collins' sister, Pearl Epps.

When Boss heard Collins had died, he called Latson, who was handling the funeral arrangements. The family planned to have Collins buried at Walker Memorial Park on Laney-Walker Boulevard.

"He asked me if it would be all right if they buried him over there," said Latson, referring to Westover Memorial Park on Wheeler Road. "I said, yeah, if he was going to pay for it."

Boss said he wanted to, and that wasn't all. Boss made the trip from Rhode Island for the visitation at C.A. Reid Sr. Memorial Funeral Home.

"For him to take time from his schedule, to think my brother was worthy of that, meant the world to me," Epps said. "He dropped everything to be with my brother."

At the visitation, Boss made a point to meet all of Collins' relatives.

"Meeting Mr. Boss, he didn't act like what he is (an Augusta National member and successful businessman)," Epps said. "He was cordial to everybody, and he wanted to make sure he knew who everybody was."

It was at the visitation that Boss told Epps that he waited every year in anticipation for the birthday, Christmas and Father's Day cards with the Augusta postmark.

"He knew Joe would send him those cards," Epps said.

At the funeral home, Boss asked Latson -- Collins' aunt -- whether it would be all right to put something in Collins' pocket. She said yes, and Boss dropped a gold pin with the Augusta National logo into his coat pocket.

Epps said Boss, who had arrived even before the family, was still there with Collins when the family left.

At the funeral the next day, also at Reid's funeral home, Boss was one of the speakers.

"He was the first to get up to give praise and honor what he felt was the best caddie at Augusta National, that everyone wanted to caddie for them," said James Quarles, whose wife, Shirley, is Collins' first cousin.

"It was just heartwarming," Epps said. "He called it magical the way Joe could read the greens.

"Just the way he spoke at my brother's funeral will always mean something special to me," Epps said. "I always felt a genuine love for my brother. I felt he had the same genuine love that I have. He had admiration for my brother. I think the relationship they had was very close. It went deep."

Collins was buried at Westover on July 3. Boss couldn't attend the graveside service, "but he made arrangements for things to be done in his absence, and they were," Epps said.

Boss had found an appropriate plot at Westover for Collins. On the side of a hill, Collins' grave faces a golf course. The green on the 10th hole at Augusta Country Club can be seen through a large opening in the trees.

Of course, adjacent to one side of that course is Augusta National, where Collins (No. 66 on his caddie card) worked for nearly 40 years and had three top-eight finishes in the Masters Tournament.

"If I could have afforded it, this is what I would have done," Epps said during a visit to the grave Monday. "It's perfect; just perfect.

"I think what he (Boss) did was exactly what my brother would have wanted," she said. "This is the perfect ending for my brother's life."

Reach David Westin at (706) 823-3224 or david.westin@augustachronicle.com.