Mary Ellen Collins

Mary Ellen Collins, 95, of Mason City, died Saturday, October 6, 2007, at Good Shepherd Health Center. Funeral services will be held 10:30 AM, Wednesday, October 10, 2007, at St. James Lutheran Church, 1148 4th St. S.E., with Pastor Paul Nelson officiating. Interment will be at Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitation will be held 4-7 PM, Tuesday, October 9, 2007, at Major Erickson Funeral Home, 111 North Pennsylvania. Memorials may be directed to the Mary Ellen Collins memorial fund. Mary Ellen was born in Cerro Gordo county on August 17, 1912, the daughter of Hugh Michale and Mary Nell (Blakney) Jones. She was the 9th child of 10 children. After graduation she stayed home to help her mother on the family farm. She married Maynard LeRoy Collins on December 21, 1933. They farmed in the Chapin and Swaledale area for a number of years. After they quit farming she went to work at Mercy Hospital as a nurses assistant. She worked there for eight years. She later worked at the Park Hospital. She worked in the surgery department there until she retired at the age of 65. After staying home for a year, she then went to work at Good Shepherd until the age of 82, when she decided to retire for good. She volunteered for both Mercy Hospital and Good Shepherd. Mary Ellen was a loving mother. She loved people. She enjoyed to sew and made many beautiful quilts that she gave to relatives. She liked to Knit and crochet and made many afghans. She and her husband loved to travel and go camping. She especially like to take her two grandsons camping and fishing. She is survived by her two sons: Richard Collins and his wife Cooky of Mason City, and Raymond Collins and his wife Linda of Mason City; two granddaughters: Garrie Lynn Leighton, and Connie Koch and her husband Tim, one great granddaughter: Stephanie Koch, one great grandson: Leighton Phillips, and many nieces and nephews and friends. She is also survived by her adopted daughter Eleanor Bornstein and her husband Leonard of Floyd, IA. She was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, two grandsons: Shane and Brenden Collins, six brothers: Hugh Ivon Jones, Charles Thomas Jones, James Wesley Jones, Martin David Jones, William Richard Jones and Robert ?Lee? Jones; three sisters: Florence White, Martha Paulson, and Sarah Aamodt.

Visitation:
4:00 PM to 7:00 PM at 111 N. Pennsylvania Ave. on October 9, 2007 (map/driving directions) 3:00 PM to 3:00 PM at 111 N. Pennsylvania Ave. on October 6, 2007 (map/driving directions)

Service:
10:30 AM at 1148 4th St. S.E. on October 10, 2007 (map/driving directions)