Mary Jo - Collins

Mary Jo Collins, 88, passed away peacefully in her sleep on August 30, 2026, in Fair Oaks, California.

Mary Jo was born on January 11, 1938, at East Coast Hospital in St. Augustine, Florida. She was adopted by Gladys Aletha Folds Thompson and James Frederick Thompson Sr.

As a teenager, she made her way to California, where she met Robert Louis Collins in Sacramento.

Mary Jo and Robert married on September 2, 1955, and built their life together in Sacramento. They raised two sons, Robert Jr. and James, beginning the family that would remain at the center of Mary Jo’s life.

Alongside raising her family, Mary Jo built a career devoted to caring for others. She worked as a registered nurse with the California Youth Authority until her retirement on April 15, 2000. Strong and independent, she had the conviction to stand up for what she believed was right.

Mary Jo was feisty, generous, glamorous, and entirely herself. She loved shopping, sweets, First Christian Church, and a good Seagram’s and 7. She appreciated beautiful things, especially anything with a little sparkle.

Mary Jo also had a remarkable talent for sewing and spent a lifetime creating things for the people she loved. She made special holiday dresses, custom towels for the basketball team her son coached, gifts for her great-grandchildren, and countless other things over the years. What she made was rarely just for herself; there was usually someone she loved on the other end of it. Today, those things are treasured not simply because she made them, but because they are lasting reminders of the thought, care, and love she put into the people around her.

As the years passed, Mary Jo had the joy of watching her family grow. She became a grandmother to Candace in 1990 and Katie in 1993, and later a great-grandmother to Cavan in 2018, Wallace in 2020, and Evan in 2025. Each new generation added to the family she and Robert had begun so many years before.

After 58 years of marriage, Robert passed away in 2013, and Mary Jo carried their life and memories with her in the years that followed. She passed away just three days before what would have been their 71st wedding anniversary. After nearly 13 years apart, her family finds comfort in thinking of them together again.

Mary Jo was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Robert Louis Collins; her brother, Jim; and her adoptive parents, Gladys Aletha Thompson and James Frederick Thompson Sr. She is survived by her sons, Robert Collins Jr. and James Collins; her daughter-in-law, Tammy Collins; her granddaughters, Candace and Katie; and her great-grandchildren, Cavan, Wallace, and Evan.

Mary Jo will be remembered for her strength, generosity, sparkle, and the many ways she showed her love. So much of her remains in the family she helped build, the things she made especially for the people she cared about, and the stories and traditions that will continue because of her.