Colleen D. Wittner

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, January 2, 2026, at Hanes-Lineberry Sedgefield Chapel, 6000 West Gate City Blvd., Greensboro, NC 27407. Entombment will immediately follow in the Parkview Mausoleum in Guilford Memorial Park Cemetery. The family will receive friends and loved ones from 1:30 p.m. until 2:20 p.m. prior to the service, at the funeral home.

Born in Queens, New York to the late Gerard Dougherty and Patricia Smollen Dougherty, Colleen was of the Catholic faith. She grew up in Richmond Hill, New York, attended Holy Child Jesus School/Church in Richmond Hill, graduated from Notre Dame High School in New York, New York, received an associate degree from Lady Cliff College and Suffolk Community College before receiving her bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from NC A&T University in Greensboro, North Carolina. Colleen worked for the Guilford County School System for over 20 years. She went from teacher assistant to teacher (teaching various grades) and then a substitute teacher after retiring (which she was still substituting right up until her illness). Colleen married Jack Wittner on July 25, 1982, and they moved to Valley Stream, New York. In June of 1987, they adopted their daughter, Katy. Colleen liked the simple things in life, taking beach trips, reading, listening to Barry Manilow and The Carpenters. She enjoyed watching Perry Mason, Hawaii 5-0, Matlock and Hallmark movies. Just give her a copy of People Magazine, a good winter coat and a warm blanket and she was happy. Her family was most important to her. Colleen was a loving and devoted wife, mother, sister, aunt and friend who was loved by many and will be missed by all who knew her. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by a sister, Pamela Hansen; a nephew, Paul Deveny; and two brothers-in-law, Eugene Tanner Jr., and Richard Grubb.

Those left to cherish her memory include her husband of 43 years, Jack Wittner; daughter, Katy Wittner (her boyfriend, Taylor); stepdaughter, Ellen Fillipon (ex-husband, Nick); sisters, Patricia Blount (John) and Maryanne Tanner; nieces, Erika Deveny, Jessica Plasencia (Jacob), and Debbie Cerasani; nephews, Greg Grubb (Candice), Ryan Grubb (fiancé, Heather Farish), and Eugene Tanner (Sarah); and a host of extended family and friends.

Online condolences may be made at www.hanelineberryfhsedgefield.com