Lloydeen Diane Collins

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our beloved mother, Lloydeen Diane Collins. She had a good run on this earth through her final days, as she was 95 years old. Diane passed away at Willow Springs Rehabilitation Center in Brick, New Jersey on June 27th.

Diane was the oldest of four siblings and enjoyed the company and frequent conversation with her remaining sisters, Kappy Swanson and Jackie Holmes and good friend Jane Seeger.. She frequently spoke of her trip to the 1939 World’s Fair and meeting President Roosevelt in Washington DC when she was a teen. She was the mother of eight children including twin boys.

Diane was also the grandmother to 14 grandchildren, 9 great grandchildren, and 4 great-great grandchildren. Much of her family lives in La Crosse, Wi, where she raised her family. Following the death of her husband, Thomas Collins, she found love again with Jerry Graff and spent wonderful years with him and his family, snow birding between Florida and Rochester, Minnesota.

After Jerry’s passing, Diane moved to New Jersey to be next door to her son, Michael Collins, his partner, Peter D!Agostino, and Sal Rumbolo, who became her caretakers during her final years. In those years with us in New Jersey, she vacationed, played golf, enjoyed BINGO, went to the pool and enjoyed playing the card game, hand and foot, as long as she could. Until recently, she looked forward to her daily one mile walk to our lake.

During her final years, she used the phrases that we cherish, “everything needs to be soft, warm and easy” and “getting old isn’t for sissies.” In respect of her wishes, there will not be a funeral, but an informal celebration of life in Brick, New Jersey and in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Services are entrusted to Jersey Shore Cremation, 43 Taylor Avenue, Manasquan, NJ.