Who was this little dynamo? She was a traveler, gardener, skier, golfer, shopper, bowler, friend, wife and mother. She was born on March 6, 1929, in Syracuse, N.Y. She sang a solo at her graduation from Eastwood High School in 1947. After high school, she was a telephone operator. In 1951, she took a cruise with a friend from New York City to Bermuda on the Q.T.E.V. Queen of Bermuda, to attend a wedding. She took a trip out west in 1952 and went to Yellowstone and Wyoming where she dated a cowboy. Then, back to New York where she met Stamford Collins at a roller skating party.
They were married on July 10, 1953, in Key West, Fla. During their marriage of 54 years, she crisscrossed the country with moves to nine different states. In California, she worked at Disneyland in 1961 and met both Walt and Roy Disney. She returned to Disneyland and worked the summer of 1967 while her husband was on deployment in the Atlantic. Always up for a challenge, she took up golf when she arrived at Whidbey Island. On July 25, 1985, she made a hole in one on number 3 at the Gallery Golf Course. Skiing was her next adventure; every week she would ride the ski bus to Mount Baker. Her ski trips included Whitefish, Mont., and Whistler, B.C. She was also an excellent roller skater, bowler, and loved to dance.
In later life, she found winters in Yuma with friends to be the ideal way to pass the cold Northwest winters. There she could enjoy days of swimming, sunning, gardening, golf and cruising the swap meets for the ideal Christmas presents for her family. This quest for the ideal Christmas presents would often take her and her friends on trips to Mexico for the shopping and of course the beach. Preceded in death by Stamford, she leaves behind many friends from coast to coast, with many fine memories of her fun sense of humor and love of adventure. She will be missed by her loving family Pat, Sue, Sean and Mariah. We love you.
A Celebration of Life will be held on Friday, Feb. 29, at the Elks Lodge in Oak Harbor from 1 to 3 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Whidbey General Hospital.
