Darlene Collins

(June 26, 1929 – February 25, 2011)

Darlene Margaret Collins, our beloved mother, was born in Iowa on June 26, 1929, the first of two children parented by Fred and Sally Atkinson. Following the birth of her brother, James, Fred and Sally relocated to Los Angeles, California. As economic conditions worsened from the Great Depression, Fred and Sally eventually separated, leaving Sally to raise both her children alone in a small wood frame garage home with dirt floors in South Central Los Angeles. While times were tough, Sally kept the family together, raising Darlene and James in the Catholic faith, and teaching them to how to make the best of things with little or no material wealth.

Darlene attended and eventually graduated from Fremont High School in Los Angeles. In the Spring of 1947, she met her future husband, Robert (Bob) Collins, at Skate Land, a local roller skating rink. Bob, a Kentucky native and one of 13 children of a tobacco share cropper, had just been honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy and was working a second job at night as a skate guard in the Los Angeles area when he noticed Darlene on the rink and asked if he could skate with her. They skated together three times which sparked the start of their romance. Two days later, Bob asked his new sweetheart Darlene out on their first date. Eight months later, on January 18, 1948, Bob and Darlene got married and honeymooned in Yuma, Arizona.

Since both loved the California climate, Bob and Darlene decided to remain in the Los Angeles area and settled down to make a family. Bob worked for Western Electric, a telephone company, which would later lead his career into the field of electrical engineering. Following the purchase of their first house, their son, Dennis Wayne was born on February 2, 1949. Then, three short years later, their daughter, Carol Ann was born on October 8, 1952.

The need to move to a larger home to accommodate Bob and Darlene’s growing family was apparent and became an acute reality when the State of California bought their home in order to build a freeway. Flush with cash, it was off to the suburbs, relocating in Torrance, California where Bob had recently landed a job as an apprentice electrical engineer with Northrop Corporation working on jet fighter aircraft in nearby Hawthorne.

It was these years in Torrance, that Bob and Darlene would raise their children. Darlene helped with expenses by working as a waitress during lunch hours at a variety of nearby hotels and restaurants always being there to see off Dennis and Carol at the start of the school day and home in the afternoon to prepare dinner and help with their homework when the school day ended. This exposure to the restaurant business allowed Darlene to hone her exceptional cooking skills. With Bob and Darlene, the kids were always top priority, never giving them up to babysitters or day care centers. They went everywhere with the kids and always included them in all aspects of their lives. Eventually, Dennis graduated from UCLA and started a career in the airline industry, and Carol graduated from El Camino College and went on to be a paralegal with a major law firm. Bob and Darlene’s sacrifice paid off.

After 30 plus years at Northrop, Bob retired, and along with Darlene relocated to Clovis, California in the summer of 1980. Clovis was particularly appealing since it was the gateway to the beautiful Yosemite National Forest and nearby Bass Lake, a favorite summer vacation spot that the Collins family frequented and where they loved to go boating and water ski. During their 20 plus years in Clovis, Bob and Darlene made numerous new friends and enjoyed watching the young neighborhood kids grow up into adults just as they had watched their own children grow up in Torrance years earlier.

Darlene was always fond of spending Bob’s hard earned money – all for fun of course! They enjoyed many trips to Hawaii. Then, Darlene got Bob hooked on cruising. They cruised to Alaska (twice); then the Caribbean; a couple of times to Western Mexico; around the Hawaiian Islands; and through the Panama Canal.

When they weren’t cruising – trips to Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe were the hot ticket. Playing the slot machines was Darlene’s favorite, particularly the “I Dream of Jeannie” machine with beer and cigarette in hand.

In April, 2003, Darlene suffered a mild stroke, fully recovering months later. Unfortunately, 2003 brought more bad news. Carol was diagnosed with colon cancer requiring extensive intestinal surgery. While Carol survived the initial onslaught of cancer, she would require periodic chemotherapy treatments for the rest of her life causing her to be seriously ill for several days at a time.

So, since children were their top priority, Bob and Darlene made the decision to sell their house in Clovis and relocate to the San Diego area in October, 2003 to live with and care for Carol. Over the years, Bob and Darlene helped Carol update and remodel her home to better accommodate not only Carol’s health needs but also make more room for them as well.

As he grew older, Bob would require three surgeries to minimize the severe back and leg pain he contended with on a daily basis leaving Darlene to care for both Carol and him. Darlene was strong and carried this burden for several years until she was diagnosed with liver disease in December, 2010.

Her battle with liver disease was short-lived, and after kissing Bob before a late afternoon nap, Darlene passed away in her sleep the afternoon of February 25, 2011 at home, without pain, and close to her beloved Bob and Carol. She was 81 years old.

Darlene Margaret Collins is survived by her husband of 63 years, Robert C. Collins of El Cajon, California; daughter Carol Smith and grand-daughter Tammy Kruk of El Cajon, California; son Dennis Collins and daughter-in-law Diane Collins of North Richland Hills, Texas; grandson Daniel Collins and great grand-daughter Payton Riley Witz of Overland Park, Kansas; and grand-daughter Jennifer Miller and her husband, Jason Miller of Johnson, Arkansas.